Seth Stohs

Klein, in my opinion, is legit. Definitely one to watch. He's got the size and he's got the stuff. He's been working mostly as the piggyback, 3-4 inning guy and done well. #OneofUs Fedko has hit everywhere. He hit in high school. He hit at UConn. While he struggled in 2024, it was more about playing time (consistency). This year, he didn't play a ton the first week... Then he started playing, crushing baseballs and they haven't really had him out of the lineup my since then. Solid defensive player. His younger brother also played at UConn and is playing independent ball now.

Walker JenkinsLuke KeaschallEmmanuel RodriguezKaelen CulpepperDasan HillCharlee SotoAndrew MorrisBrandon WinokurConnor PrielippKyle DeBargeKhadim DiawGabriel GonzalezMarco RayaEduardo BeltreDanny De AndradeBilly AmickRicardo OlivarSantiago CastellanosDaiber De Los SantosJose Olivares Not much change in the top 10, but a lot of movement - a youth movement, maybe - in the 11-20 range. I can't imagine anyone else will have Diaw quite this high. Castellanos and Oliveros are flame-throwers. My highest ranked player that wasn't an option to be ranked was Carlos Taveras.

Walker JenkinsLuke KeaschallEmmanuel RodriguezKaelen CulpepperDasan HillCharlee SotoAndrew MorrisBrandon WinokurConnor PrielippKyle DeBargeKhadim DiawGabriel GonzalezMarco RayaEduardo BeltreDanny De AndradeBilly AmickRicardo OlivarSantiago CastellanosDaiber De Los SantosJose Olivares Not much change in the top 10, but a lot of movement - a youth movement, maybe - in the 11-20 range. I can't imagine anyone else will have Diaw quite this high. Castellanos and Oliveros are flame-throwers. My highest ranked player that wasn't an option to be ranked was Carlos Taveras.

It's a rehab assignment.

Image courtesy of Ed Bailey, Wichita Wind Surge (photo of Ben Ross) For a day in which three of four affiliates lost their game, and there were a ton of runs scored, there were some solid individual performances. There were promotions and players returning from injury. CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 36-35 (2nd in AL Central, 9.0 games behind Detroit.) St. Paul Saints: 31-36 (6th place in the International League West Division, 9.0 games behind Nashville.) Wichita Wind Surge: 34-29 (2nd in Texas League North, 4.0 games behind Springfield.) Cedar Rapids Kernels: 37-26 (2nd place in the Midwest League’s West Division, 1.0 games behind Quad Cities.) Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 27-35 (6th place in the Florida State League’s West Division, 9.0 games behind Lakeland.) FCL Twins: 19-11 (Tied for 1st in FCL South with the FCL Rays. DSL Twins: 2-8 TRANSACTIONS The Twins placed Royce Lewis on the Injured List. They called up OF DaShawn Keirsey to take his roster spot. The Saints activated RHP Cory Lewis, 1B Yunior Severino, and SS/OF Will Holland. We mentioned on Saturday that Tanner Schobel left the Saints game after being hit by a pitch in the ninth inning. Turns out, Schobel fractured his forearm and is now on the 7-Day Injured List. In addition, RHP Jacob Bosiokovic was released by the Twins. RHPs Joel Garcia and Will Armbruester were promoted from the FCL to the Mighty Mussels. OF Jose Rodriguez was placed on the Temporary Inactive List by Fort Myers. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 3, Indianapolis 7 Box Score The Saints are thrilled to be leaving Indianapolis. They played seven games there this week and managed just one win. Cory Lewis returned from the IL and made the start. He gave up two runs (both in the first inning) on three hits in three innings. He walked two and had five strikeouts. Cody Laweryson came on in relief. He was charged with an unearned run on two hits over two innings. He had four strikeouts without issuing a walk. Richard Lovelady had one strikeout in one scoreless inning. The game was tied 3-3 going to the bottom of the eighth inning, but Ryan Jensen gave up four runs on four hits and a walk in his 1 1/3 innings. Jarret Whorff came on and got the final two outs. The Saints were down 2-0 going to the fifth inning. With Aaron Sabato on base, Noah Cardenas hit his first Triple-A home run to tie the game. Down 3-2 going to the eighth inning, Carson McCusker was on second base. He scored the tying run on a double by Anthony Prato, his fifth of the year.. McCusker went 2-for-4 with his 13th double. Sabato went 1-for-2 with two walks. Payton Eeles also walked twice. Yunior Severino returned to the lineup and hit his fifth double. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 5, Corpus Christi 4 Box Score A three-run sixth inning gave the Wind Surge the lead, and they were able to hang on. In the second inning, Nate Baez tripled to lead off the inning. He scored on a ground out by Ben Ross. Down 3-1, Ricardo Olivar’s eighth home run of the season cut the deficit in half. With the score still at 3-2 going to the bottom of the sixth inning, the Surge scored three runs. Gabriel Gonzalez led off with his sixth double since joining Wichita. He stole third base. With one out, Olivar walked. With two outs, Ben Ross drilled his fifth home run of the season to give the team a 5-3 lead. Lefty Aaron Rozek started and gave up three runs on three hits. He walked two and struck out five batters. That gave him 207, most in Wind Surge history. Tanner Andrews made his first appearance in the Twins organization. He gave up one hit and had a strikeout. Jaylen Nowlin gave up one run on one hit and a walk in the seventh inning. Mike Paredes came on for the final two innings. He gave up just one hit and struck out two batters to record his first save. Gonzalez went 3-for-4 with a double and stolen base. Nate Baez went 2-for-4 with a triple. Ben Ross led the way. He went 2-for-4 with a home run and four RBI. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 3, Peoria 4 Box Score Down 4-1 going to the bottom of the eighth, the Kernels scored one run in the eight and one run in the ninth, but in the end, they fell just short on the scoreboard. Hard-throwing Jose Olivares started. He gave up one run on two hits in four innings. He had four walks and six strikeouts. Kade Bragg gave up one run on three hits and a walk over two innings. He struck out three batters. Paulshawn Pasqualotto got the next two innings. He gave up two runs on two hits and a walk. He also had three strikeouts. Wilker Reyes had two walks and a strikeout in his inning. Things were tough at the start for the Kernels. In the bottom of the first, Kyle DeBarge was called out on strikes. He disagreed with that umpire decision. In the top of the second, Olivares got a pop up to third base. Soon after, DeBarge was ejected by the first base umpire. Losing such an important bat that early in the game obviously doesn’t help the team. In the bottom of the second inning, Danny De Andrade led off and was hit by a pitch. Jaime Ferrer singled to center with De Andrade going to third. Andy Lugo drove him in on a fielder’s choice. In the bottom of the eighth, Poncho Ruiz led off with a single and went to third on a Misael Urbina double. Ruiz scored on a ground out by Kaelen Culpepper. The bottom of the ninth began just like the second, with De Andrade being hit by a pitch. Ferrer bunted him to second. Lugo hit his second double to drive in a run and cut the deficit to 4-3. Both the eighth and ninth innings ended with a Kernels runner on second. In the game, the Kernels were just 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position and left five runners on base. Lugo led the way. He went 2-for-4 with a double. He also stole his first base in Cedar Rapids. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers 0, Dunedin 3 (5 innings) Box Score These teams were supposed to play a doubleheader on Sunday. Instead, they were happy to get through five innings so that the first game counted. The second game was simply cancelled as the season’s first half runs down. The Mussels were shut out and had just six hits. Walker Jenkins went 2-for-3. Bryan Acuna went 2-for-2. Acuna stole his second base since joining the team early in the week. Dylan Questad started and worked the first 3 2/3 innings. He was charged with three runs (2 earned) on two hits and four walks. He struck out four batters. Josh Bortka gave up a hit and a walk and recorded three outs. PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day Ben Ross (Wichita): 2-for-4, HR (5), R, 4 RBI Pitcher of the Day Mike Paredes (Wichita): 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K. (First Save) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Sunday. Reminder: You can vote and rank your top 20 Twins prospects and help us update the Twins Daily Top 20 prospects. Click here. #1– Walker Jenkins (Wichita) - rehab in FM, 2-for-3 (DHd) #6 - Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-4, RBI (played SS) #9 - Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-4, 2 K (started CF, move to 3B) #11 - Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-1, K, ejected (played 2B) #12 - Cory Lewis (St. Paul) - Activated, 3 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, HBP, 5 K, WP, 66 pitches, 36 strikes (54.5%) #14 - Gabriel Gonzalez (Wichita) - 3-for-4, 2B(6), R, SB(3), (played LF) #19 - Carson McCusker (St. Paul) - 2-for-4, 2B(13), R (played RF) #20 - Ricardo Olivar (Wichita) - 1-for-3, BB, HR(8), R, RBI (DHd) MONDAY'S SCHEDULE FCL Twins @ FCL Orioles (11:00 AM CT) - TBD DSL Twins @ DSL Yankees(10:00 AM CT) - TBD Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the rosters, and discuss Sunday’s games, or anything else Twins minor-league related! View full article

Image courtesy of David Malamut (photo of Tanner Hall) This report is a little later than normal. I attended the 2025 Great American Think-Off in New York Mills tonight. The question debated was "Is there only one truth, or are there many truths?" Deep stuff, but that was a lot of fun! I even included a deep question or two in the below that you can debate in the comments... or just ask questions. CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 36-34 (2nd in AL Central, 9.0 games behind Detroit.) St. Paul Saints: 31-35 (6th place in the International League West Division, 8.0 games behind Nashville.) Wichita Wind Surge: 33-29 (2nd in Texas League North, 3.5 games behind Springfield.) Cedar Rapids Kernels: 37-25 (Tied 1st place in the Midwest League’s West Division with Quad Cities.) Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 27-34 (6th place in the Florida State League’s West Division, 8.0 games behind Lakeland.) FCL Twins: 19-11 (1st in FCL South, 0.5 games ahead of the FCL Rays. DSL Twins: 2-8 TRANSACTIONS RHP C.J. Culpepper was activated from the Wind Surge’s 60-Day Injured List and made the start in Wichita. RHP Julio Bonilla has been on the Mighty Mussels 60-Day Injured List all season. On Saturday, he began a rehab assignment with the FCL Twins. Infielder Billy Amick began a rehab assignment in the FCL as well. Hopefully he can get back to the Kernels soon. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 2, Indianapolis 4 Box Score After two innings, the Saints were on pace to score nine runs in the game. In the top of the first inning, Mickey Gasper scored on a double off the bat of Carson McCusker. In the second, Gasper drove in Anthony Prato with a single. Unfortunately, in between Jack Suwinski hit a two-run home run. So, after two innings, the game was on pace to be 9-9 at the end of nine innings. Indianapolis ended with just four runs total. However, the Saints did not score the rest of the game and fell 4-2. In one way, I guess that’s OK. I mean, if we continue the logic that each team would continue to score just one run per inning, the game would never end. It would have infinite innings and I don’t think that’s good for anyone in the long-term, or the short-term. The options were. 1.) St. Paul wins. 2.) Indianapolis wins. 3.) the game would go to infinity with a score of infinity-infinity. This option could involve intervention after, say, 36 innings or so. The league could call the game a tie so that it ends and a new game could start. So the question is… Obviously Option #1 would be preferred. But of the other two options, which would be preferred? Certainly a tie would be better than a loss, but what would it do to the pitching staff throughout the organization? Would there even be any pitchers (including position players) left to pitch? This might be a case where it’s better to lose the battle to help the possibility of winning the war. OK, back to this game. Darren McCaughan started and gave up four runs on seven hits and a walk over the first five innings. Travis Adams came on and tossed three scoreless innings. He gave up two hits, walked none and had three strikeouts. Gasper led the offense with two of the team’s five hits. Edouard Julien went 1-for-2 with a walk and was hit by a pitch. Tanner Schobel walked and was hit by a pitch in the ninth inning. He left the game for a pinch runner. Prato added his first triple. McCusker’s double was his 12th of the season. Since returning from his two-week stint with the Twins, McCusker has gone 5-for-45. He’s hitting .111/.245/.267 (.512). WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 3, Corpus Christi 1 Box Score In his return to the Wind Surge rotation after spending the season’s first two-and-a-half months on the Injured List. He did well. He worked the first three innings and gave up no runs on three hits. He walked none and had four strikeouts. Cole Percival (aka, Son of Troy) was asked to pitch the next two innings. He gave up one run on four hits. Pierson Ohl worked out of the bullpen again and tossed the final four innings. He gave up just one hit, walked none and had five strikeouts. He got the Win and is now 4-1 with a 2.27 ERA this season. In his last five outings, he has given up two earned runs in 18 innings (1.00 ERA). Corpus Christi scored first with their run scoring in the top of the fourth inning. The Wind Surge responded in the bottom half with a run. With runners on first and third, Rubel Cespedes drove in Ricardo Olivar with a fielder’s choice. The score remained 1-1 until the bottom of the seventh. Jorel Ortega led off the inning with a solar homer. He now has seven long balls on the season. The Surge added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth. With two outs, Ortega lined a single to left that drove in Ben Ross. Ortega led the offense on Saturday. Batting ninth, he went 3-for-4 with his fifth double, seventh home run, and two RBI. He also stole his sixth base. Gabriel Gonzalez went 2-for-4 with a walk. It was his seventh multi-hit game since joining the Surge about a month ago. Ben Ross went 2-for-4. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 8, Peoria 0 Box Score In Game 1 of Thursday’s doubleheader, Chase Chaney delivered a complete game shutout. Tanner Hall won’t get credit for the complete game or a shutout, but he also worked seven scoreless innings. He gave up four hits, walked four batters, hit a batter and struck out four. Two more innings still had to be played for this game to be complete. Jacob Kisting came on and maintained the shutout. He gave up two hits, walked none, and he had three strikeouts. Along with great pitching, the Kernels took an early lead and later had a big inning to make it an (relatively) easy win. The Kenrels started with a run in the first inning. Kaelen Culpepper was hit by a pitch and went to second on a wild pitch. He scored on a double by Kyle DeBarge. Let’s jump to the fourth inning, Jaime Ferrer singled to left to lead off the inning. Newcomer Andy Lugo lined a double to left but Ferrer was thrown out at home. Kyle Hess walked. Misael Urbina tripled to drive in both runners and give the Kernels a 3-0 lead. Then came the fifth inning. Kyle DeBarge led off with a walk and stole second. Brandon Winokur walked, and DeBarge stole another base. Winokur followed with a stolen base. Danny De Andrade got on base on a fielder’s choice. Winokur was thrown out between second and third. Ferrer followed with a two-run single. Following walks by Hess and Poncho Ruiz to load the bases, Ferrer scored on a wild pitch. Urbina walked to reload the bases. Hess scored on a passed ball. Culpepper was hit by a pitch to reload the bases. DeBarge walked to drive in Ruiz with the fifth run of the inning. That was it for the scoring. The Kernels held on for the 8-0 win. Ferrer went 3-for-5. Lugo went 2-for-4 in his Kernels debut with a double. DeBarge went 1-for-3 with two walks and stole his 34th and 35 bases. Urban had a walk and his second triple. Ruiz had a walk and his third double. Hess walked twice. Culpepper had a walk and was twice hit by a pitch. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers 7 Dunedin 8 (11 innings) Box Score It was Dasan Day in Dunedin on Saturday. The southpaw didn’t have his best start, but his offense kept the team in the game. The game went to extra innings. The Mussels scored two runs in the top of the 11th, but the Blue Jays scored three in the bottom half to walk it off. Dasan Hill made the start. He went 3 1/3 innings and was charged with three runs (1 earned) on two hits and a career-high four walks. He had three strikeouts. His season ERA is now at 1.65. Tyler Stasiowski came on and gave up one run on three hits over the next 2 2/3 innings. Ivran Romero gave up one run on two hits over two innings. Ruddy Gomez pitched scoreless innings in the ninth and 10th innings. However, he was charged with all three runs. Two were earned, and of course the Manfred Man scored an unearned run. He gave up a total of three hits. He walked two and had four strikeouts. But he wasn’t on the mound when the winning run scored. Zander Sechrist came in and threw one pitch. A single scored the winning run. The Mussels scored four runs in the fifth inning to temporarily take a one-run lead. The inning started with a single by Caleb McNeeley. He went to second on a wild pitch. Jefferson Valladares walked. With one out, McNeely and Valladares were successful on a double steal. Blaze O’Saben walked to load the bases. After a pitching change, Byron Chourio singled to center. McNeely scored, but Valladares was thrown out at home. Walker Jenkins reached on a fielder’s choice and a throwing error allowed O’Saben to score. Dameury Pena drove a single to right to score Chourio. Jenkins then scored on a Wild Pitch. Bryan Acuna and Yohander Martinez walked to reload the bases. In the seventh inning, Acuna scored on a Martinez single. In the top of the 11th, Chourio began the inning at second base. Angel Del Rosario hit a bunt single. There was an error on the throw to first that allowed Byron Chourio to score. With two outs, Del Rosario stole his 24th base. Martinez was hit by a pitch. McNeely singled in Del Rosario. Then came the bottom of the 11th. Byron Chourio went 3-for-5 with a walk and his eighth stolen bases. Martinez went 2-for-4 with a walk. McNeely went 2-fo-5 with a walk. Bryan Acuna had a single and two walks. COMPLEX CHRONICLES FCL Twins 13, FCL Red Sox 5 Box Score Rehabbing Mercedes Post Triple-Double and Homers Yes, he has struggled in his transition to Low-A, but it is performances like this that remind us just how talented he is and what his ceiling could be. Here is how his day went: 1st PA (1st Inning): Double, SB, Run 2nd PA (2nd inning): Home Run, 2 RBI, Run 3rd PA (4th Inning): Double, Run 4th PA (6th inning): Walk, 5th PA (7th inning): Double, 2 RBI, 6th PA (9th inning): Pop Out. Mercedes went 4-for-5 with a walk, three doubles, a homer, three runs scored and four RBI, and a stolen base. Fellow rehabber Billy Amick went 1-for-3 with three walks in his first game in over a month. Daiber De Los Santos went 2-for-4 with two walks, his sixth double, his second home run, and three RBI. Ricardo Paez was 2-for-5. Yandro Hernandez hit his third double, and Ramiro Dominguez hit his eighth double and stole his sixth base. Juan Cota made the start. In 2 1/3 innings, he gave up four runs (all in the third) on five hits and a walk. He struck out three batters. Anderson Ramos faced eight batters and got all eight out. He had four strikeouts. Julio Bonilla is currently on the 60-Day IL and made his first rehab appearance. He gave up one hit and struck out two in a scoreless inning. Andrew Huffman struck out two batters in a scoreless innings. He gave up one hit and walked a batter. Sebastian Pulido gave up one run on one hit (a solo homer), but hae also had three strikeouts. It was a good day for a division-leading FCL Twins squad. They scored 13 runs on 12 hits. They also walked 11 times and were hit by two pitches. They scored 13 runs despite going just 3-for-14 with runners in scoring position and left 11 on base. DOMINICAN DAILIES DSL Twins 4, DSL Marlins 15 Box Score The Twins fell behind early, and then they gave up more runs often on Saturday morning. Rainer Marin started and gave up four runs on two hits and two walks. He got two outs, one was a strikeout. Eliezer Lucena came on and worked the next 3 1/3 innings. He gave up five runs on three hits and three walks. He struck out three batters. Brandy Ceballos gave up four unearned runs on three hits and a walk over his two innings. Finally, Jesus Gomez gave up two runs (1 earned) on one hit and one walk. All but Ceballos hit a batter too. The offense put up three runs in the bottom of the third inning. With two outs, Santiago Leon walked. After a pitching change, Jhomnardo Reyes singled, and Leon advanced to third on a throwing error. Reyes stole second. Leon scored on a wild pitch, and when the catcher’s throw got past the pitcher, Reyes scored too. Carlos Taveras walked and stole second. Darwin Almanzar doubles to bring home Taveras and cut the Miami lead to 9-3. In the fourth inning, Pablo Castillo was hit by a pitch. He moved to second base on a ground out. Diaz singled to third base, and then a wild pitch put runners on second and third. Teilon Serrano toward second base to drive in Castillo. Serrano and Diaz each had two hits. Taveras walked twice. Almanzar’s double was his second of the season. PLAYERS OF THE DAY Let’s try this a little differently today… Here are five candidates for hitter of the day and pitcher of the day. In the comments below, leave your vote for both. Hitter of the Day Jorel Ortega (Wichita): 3-for-4, 2B(5), HR (7), R, 2 RBI, SB(6) Jaime Ferrer (Cedar Rapids): 3-for-5, R, 2 RBI, SB(1) Byron Chourio (Fort Myers): 3-for-5, BB, 2 R, RBI, SB(8). Yasser Mercedes (FCL Twins-Rehab): 4-for-5, BB, 3-2B, HR, 3 R, 4 RBI, SB). Daiber De Los Santos (FCL Twins): 2-for-4, 2 BB, 2B(6), HR(2), R, 3 RBI, K Pitcher of the Day Tanner Hall (Cedar Rapids): 7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 4 K. Travis Adams (St. Paul): 3 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K Pierson Ohl (Wichita): 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K CJ Culpepper (Wichita): 3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K. Anderson Ramos (FCL Twins): 2 2/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K. PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Saturday. Reminder: You can vote and rank your top 20 Twins prospects and help us update the Twins Daily Top 20 prospects. Click here. #1– Walker Jenkins (Wichita) - rehab in FM, 0-for-4, B, R, 2 K (played CF) #6 - Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-2, BB, 2-HBP, R (played SS) #9 - Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-3, BB, K, SB(15), (played CF, OF Assist) #10 - Dasan Hill (Fort Myers) - 3 1/3 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 3 K, 66 pitches, 33 strikes (50.0%) #11 - Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-3, 2B(12), 2 BB, R, 2 RBI, 2-SB(35), (played 2B) #13 - Billy Amick (Cedar Rapids) - Rehab in FCL (1-for-3, 3 BB, 3 R, K) #14 - Gabriel Gonzalez (Wichita) - 2-for-4, BB (played RF) #15 - C.J. Culpepper (Wichita) - Activated from IL. 3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K. 48 pitches, 30 strikes (62.5%) #17 - Tanner Schobel (St. Paul) - 0-for-2, BB, HBP, 2 K (played 3B) #18 - Yasser Mercedes (Fort Myers) - rehab in FCL (4-for-5, 3-2B, HR, 3 R, 4 RBI, SB) #19 - Carson McCusker (St. Paul) - 1-for-4, 2B(12), RBI, 3 K (played RF) #20 - Ricardo Olivar (Wichita) - 1-for-3, BB, R (catcher) SUNDAY PITCHING PROBABLES Minnesota @ Houston (1:10 PM CT) - LHP Brandon Walter (2-5, 3.53 ERA) St. Paul @ Indianapolis (12:35 PM CT) - TBD Corpus Christi @ Wichita (1:05 PM CT) - TBD Peoria @ Cedar Rapids (1:05 PM CT) - RHP Jose Olivares (1-2, 5.16 ERA) Fort Myers @ Dunedin (DH @ 11:00 AM CT) - RHP Dylan Questad (1-3, 5.35 ERA), TBD Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the rosters, and discuss Saturday’s games, or anything else Twins minor-league related! View full article

Image courtesy of Ed Bailey, Wichita Wind Surge (photo of Kala'i Rosario) Because of rain outs, there were nine games scheduled in the Twins minor leagues on Thursday. More rain caused Fort Myers to play about one inning, so those two games will results in doubleheaders later this week. For the leagues that play a first-half and a second-half, there a couple of Twins affiliates that are likely doing a little bit of scoreboard watching. Check out which affiliates are competing for a playoff spot right now. The Twins signed another player from an independent league, and the team that he was signed from currently has three former Minnesota Twins on their roster. It's a fun jaunt down memory lane. Today's report has a bit of variety. One team was swept, and one of the losses was a shutout. A Twins minor league pitcher tossed a seven-inning shutout. One team got some great pitching and an ugly big inning for a win. A young prospect hit a homer that, because of rain, essentially became the game-winner. And, the Rockies juggernaut beat the Twins in a close game on Thursday afternoon in the Dominican. Enjoy today's minor-league report. But when you're done, be sure to spend five to 10 minutes ranking your Top 20 Minnesota Twins prospects. It's fun to see the results when we get a bunch of participation. Click here to rank your Top 20! CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 36-32 (2nd in AL Central, 8.0 games behind Detroit.) St. Paul Saints: 31-33 (6th place in the International League West Division, 6.5 games behind Nashville.) Wichita Wind Surge: 31-29 (Tied 2nd in Texas League North, 3.5 games behind Springfield.) Cedar Rapids Kernels: 35-25 (Tied 1st place in the Midwest League’s West Division with Quad Cities.) Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 27-31 (Tied with Bradenton for 5th place in the Florida State League’s West Division, 5.5 games behind Lakeland.) FCL Twins: 17-11 (1st in FCL South, 0.5 games ahead of the FCL Rays. DSL Twins: 1-7 TRANSACTIONS The Twins traded Jorge Alcala to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for infielder Andy Lugo. Lugo was assigned to the Cedar Rapids Kernels. The Twins continued to work the independent leagues to give players an opportunity or another opportunity. On Thursday, they signed RHP Tanner Andrews to a minor-league deal and assigned him to the Wind Surge. The 29-year-old had pitched in 15 games for the Staten Island FerryHawks where he teams with Pablo Sandoval and a couple of former Twins in Adalberto Mejia, Mark Contreras and Drew Maggi. Recently the Twins signed LHP Brennen Oxford from the team and sent him to the Mighty Mussels. In his 15 games, he is 2-0 with three saves. In 13 2/3 innings, he has given up just five hits, walked two, and he has 25 strikeouts. A little more on Andrews, he pitched for Purdue from 2015-2018. That summer, he was the 10th round pick of the Miami Marlins. He spent four seasons with the Marlins. In 2022, he joined the Giants organization and has pitched at Triple-A Sacramento the past two seasons. As you would expect, the numbers in the PCL were not great, but he did stay healthy. SAINTS SENTINEL Game 1: St. Paul 2, Indianapolis 6 Box Score Morris Roughed Up by Pirates (Prospects) Andrew Morris may soon surface with the Twins if they need another starter in the near future. Maybe that’s why he was pushed to 97 pitches in this game. He gave up three runs in the first inning (on a Jack Suwinski homer), but then threw three zeroes on the board. He was charged with one run in the fifth as well. He left the game with two outs in the sixth inning and two runners on base. Jacob Bosiokovic came in and before getting a strikeout to end the inning, walked three batters and allowed both inherited runners to score. So the final line for Morris includes six runs on five hits and four walks in 5 2/3 innings. He did have seven strikeouts The Saints were kept scoreless until the fifth inning. Anthony Prato led off with a walk. After an out, Prato scored on a double by Tanner Schobel. Then in the top of the sixth, Edouard Julien led off with a single. He went to second on a one-out single by DaShawn Keirsey. Prato lined a single to center, but Julien was thrown out at home. However, Keirsey scored when Jeferson Morales reached on a fielding error. The Saints had six hits and two walks. Prato reached all three times, twice via a walk and once on a single. Schobel and Julien were both 2-for-3 with their fourth Saints double. Payton Eeles was hit by a pitch twice in this game. Game 2: St. Paul 0, Indianapolis 5 Box Score Saints Blanked by Indianapolis Fellows The Saints did little on offense in Game 1, but Drake Fellows and two relievers shut out the Saints offense. They managed just three hits and three walks. They struck out 10 times. So, let’s start with the pitching. Randy Dobnak got the start. He was charged with four runs (3 earned) on four hits (including a home run) and two walks. He struck out four batters. Jarret Whorff followed and gave up only an unearned run over three innings. He gave up two hits. Ryan Jensen pitched a scoreless seventh inning. Both relievers had two strikeouts and no walks. Payton Eeles had a single. Tanner Schobel hit a single. DaShawn Keirsey hit his fourth double since joining the Saints recently. Jose Miranda walked twice, and Diego Cartaya walked once. That is the complete Saints offensive report, well, I did already mention the 10 strikeouts too, right? They were also 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 5, Corpus Christi 1 Box Score Four-Run Fourth Frame Fuels Surge to a Win in Texas The credit in this game has to go to the Wind Surge pitching. Five pitchers combined to give up just one run on four hits over nine innings. A big inning pushed the team to a win. Minnesotan John Klein made the start in this game. In four innings, he gave up one run on three hits. He walked one and had four strikeouts. Lefty Jaylen Nowlin came in and tossed two scoreless innings. He issued one walk and had four strikeouts. Michael Martinez tossed two scoreless innings, and John Stankiewicz and Cole Percival combined to toss a scoreless ninth inning and preserve the win. The Surge scored four runs in the fourth inning, but it wasn’t pretty. Kala’i Rosario walked and stole second. Rubel Cespedes singled him to third. Ricardo Olivar walked to load the bases. Andrew Cossetti drove in the team’s first run, but taking one for the team. Tyler Dearden followed with a single to left that drove in two more runs. Following a Ben Ross single, the fourth run scored on a double play ball. The fifth inning insurance run wasn’t any prettier. With two outs, Cespedes walked. Olivar had an infield single, and Cespedes scored on a throwing error. Not exciting, but they all count the same. Dearden led the offense. He had two of the team’s five base hits and drove in two runs. Wichita also had six walks. Rosario walked twice. Cespedes singled and walked twice. By the way, Rosario stole his 12th base of the season. That matches the total number of stolen bases he had over the past three years. He had seven in 2022 in Fort Myers. He had just two steals when he was the Midwest League MVP in 2023 with the Kernels. Last year, he had three steals with the Wind Surge. Rosario also increased his on-base streak to 16 games on Thursday. KERNELS NUGGETS Game 1: Cedar Rapids 3, Peoria 0 Box Score Chaney Throws Complete Game Shutout Right-hander Chase Chaney delivered a dominant complete-game effort, tossing seven scoreless innings in Cedar Rapids’ 3–0 victory over Peoria. Chaney allowed just three hits, walked two, and struck out five to improve to 4–1 with a 3.19 ERA on the season. Designated hitter for Game 1 was Brandon Winokur, and he provided the biggest swing of the game, launching his seventh home run in the fourth inning. Winokur has 37 RBIs and a .706 OPS. Jaime Ferrer drove in runs with an RBI single and a sacrifice fly, raising his RBI total to 12. Left fielder Jay Thomason sparked the offense with two hits (a single and a double) and two stolen bases, and he scored twice. Thomason now has three stolen bases since joining the Kernels on June 4th. Kaelen Culpepper also recorded a multi-hit game, 2-for- 3, pushing his average to .305 with an .892 OPS. Defensively, the Kernels turned a double play and committed no errors. They were efficient offensively, converting one of three opportunities with runners in scoring position and stranding just four. Chaney faced only three batters over the minimum in the seven inning complete game shutout. . Cedar Rapids continues to lead with strong pitching performances and steady contributions from the middle of the order. Game 2: Cedar Rapids 3, Peoria 4 Box Score Late Push Not Enough in Kernels’ Loss Cedar Rapids dropped a tight 4–3 contest to Peoria despite a late-inning rally and strong relief work. Starter Jeremy Lee was charged with four runs (two earned) in 2 2/3 innings, giving up a two-run homer to Miguel Villarroel and an RBI single later in the third. He walked three and struck out one batter. Jaime Ferrer doubled and walked, while Kyle Hess delivered a triple and an RBI single in a 2-for-2 effort before being lifted for a pinch hitter in the sixth inning. Misael Urbina added his third home run of the season, a solo shot in the fifth frame. Urbina reached base twice and raised his OPS to .789. Cedar Rapids’ bullpen was solid. Samuel Perez and Wilker Reyes combined for 3 1/3 scoreless innings with three strikeouts and one hit allowed. At the plate, the Kernels went just 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position and left five runners on base. Danny De Andrade and Justin Connell also scored runs for the Kernels, who pulled within one after a wild pitch in the top of the sixth. However, the offense couldn’t capitalize in the final innings. The loss moves Lee to 4–3 with a 6.82 ERA. MUSSEL MATTERS Game 1: Fort Myers 0, Dunedin 1 (Game Suspended bottom 1) Box Score I’m sure they meant well, thinking maybe they could get one of the two games of their doubleheader in before the rains came. But not. Four Mussels came to the plate. Three got out, but Walker Jenkins got hit by a pitch. The game will continue where it left off, with Blue Jays runners on second and third and two outs in the bottom of the first inning. Game 2 will (hopefully) be made up as part of a doubleheader on Sunday, June 15th. And if you happen to be traveling to Fort Myers in a week or so, you might be able to get a Walker Jenkins bobblehead. COMPLEX CHRONICLES FCL Twins 4, FCL Pirates 3 (6 innings) Box Score Beltre Blast Gives Twins Win and First Place in the Division The FCL Twins continued on their winning ways. After falling behind early, the Twins scored later, and then the game ended a little early due to the weather. Melvin Rodriguez made the start. He gave up three first-inning runs, but responded by posting four zeroes on the scoreboard. In his five innings, he gave up the three runs on six hits and no walks. He also had five strikeouts. Newcomer Sam Rochard worked the sixth inning. He gave up one hit and struck out three in his first appearance. The 24-year-old is getting some work before he likely heads to a full-season affiliate. The Twins hitters went scoreless through the first four innings. The fifth inning started out with two strikeouts. Daiber De Los Santos ripped a double and scored on a single by Irvin Nunez. Still down 3-1, the Twins started the bottom of the sixth inning with a single by Isaac Pena. A bunt advanced him to second, and then he stole third base. Yandro Hernandez walked. Pena scored on a fielder’s choice by the rehabbing Yasser Mercedes who hustled to avoid an inning-ending double play. He proceeded to steal second base. And then Eduardo Beltre followed with his second home run of the season to give the Twins a 4-3 lead. That is when the rains came and after a delay, the Twins had another win. Mercedes went 2-for 4. De Los Santos went 2-for-4 with his fourth double of the season. Nunez went 2-for-2 with a walk and his third double. Ramiro Dominguez walked and added his seventh double. DOMINICAN DAILIES DSL Twins 5, DSL Rockies 7 Box Score Twins Use Efficient Offense, but Fall Short to the Soaring Rockies Sure, the MLB version of the Colorado Rockies is off to an historically bad start, but their DSL affiliate is now 6-1 after taking the late lead from the 1-7 DSL Twins. The Twins offense was pretty efficient. They scored their five runs on just three hits and four walks. Down 4-0 through four innings, Darwin Almanzar’s first pro homer put the team on the scoreboard. The Twins were especially efficient in the top of the seventh. With the bases loaded, Jhomnardo Reyes hit a single to right field to drive in three runs. Reyes got caught in a rundown that involved enough throws to allow all three runs to score and tie the game at 4-4. That was the team’s lone at-bat with runners in scoring position. Reyes is 17 years old and with this 1-for-4 game, he is still hitting .435 with an OPS over 1.215. In the top of the eighth, the Twins took the lead when Jamesson Val scored on a sacrifice fly by Gerardo Cardona. It was short-lived though as the Rockies scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth to take the 7-5 that carried through the ninth inning. Jensi Infante started and toss two scoreless innings. He gave up just one hit and had two strikeouts. Eli Urena came on for the third inning. He recorded one out but walked four batters. Three of them eventually scored, two while Aaron Carranza finished out that inning. Carranza was charged with one run of his own over his 2 2/3 innings. He had three strikeouts. Finally Marlon Mirabal worked the final three innings. He gave up three runs (2 earned) on four hits and a walk. He did record four strikeouts. Haritzon Castillo was the lone Twins batter to have both a single and a walk in the game. He is also hitting .435 with an OPS of 1.263. PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day Tanner Schobel (St. Paul): 3-for-6, 2B(4), RBI, 2 K Pitcher of the Day Chase Chaney (Cedar Rapids): 7 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 90 pitches, 58 strikes (64.4%) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Thursday. Reminder: You can vote and rank your top 20 Twins prospects and help us update the Twins Daily Top 20 prospects. Click here. #1– Walker Jenkins (Wichita) - rehab in FM, 0-for-0, HBP (DHd) #6 - Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids) - Game 1 (2-for-3, played SS), Game 2 (0-for-4, K, DHd) #8 - Andrew Morris (St. Paul) - Game 1: 5 2/3 IP, 5 H, 6 ER, 4 BB, 7 K, 97 pitches, 62 strikes (63.9%) #9 - Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - Game 1 (1-for-3, HR(7), R, RBI, K, DHd), Game 2 (0-for-3, K, played SS). #11 - Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids) - Game 1 (0-for-3, played 2B), Game 2 (0-for-3, BB, 2 K, played 2B) #14 - Gabriel Gonzalez (Wichita) - 0-for-4, K (DHd) #16 - Eduardo Beltre (FCL Twins) - 1-for-4, HR(2), R, 2 RBI, K. #17 - Tanner Schobel (St. Paul) - Game 1: 2-for-3, 2B(4), RBI, K, (played 3B) Game 2: 1-for-3, K (played SS) #18 - Yasser Mercedes (Fort Myers) - rehab in FCL (2-for-4, R, RBI, K, SB, CS) #19 - Carson McCusker (St. Paul) - Game 1: 0-for-3, K (DHd), Game 2: 0-for-3, 2 K (played RF) #20 - Ricardo Olivar (Wichita) - 1-for-3, BB, R (catcher) FRIDAY PITCHING PROBABLES Minnesota @ Houston (6:10 PM CT) - RHP Chris Paddack (2-5, 3.53 ERA) St. Paul @ Indianapolis (6:05 PM CT) - RHP Trent Baker (first Saints start) Corpus Christi @ Wichita (7:05 PM CT) - RHP Ricky Castro (0-3, 6.31 ERA) Peoria @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 PM CT) - RHP Alejandro Hidalgo (0-1, 5.71 ERA) Fort Myers @ Dunedin (DH @ 3:00 PM CT) - TBD for suspended game, Game 2: RHP Adrian Bohorquez (1-3, 9.68 ERA) FCL Red Sox @ FCL Twins (11:00 AM CT) - TBD DSL Phillies @ DSL Twins (10:00 AM CT) - TBD Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the rosters, and discuss Thursday’s games, or anything else Twins minor-league related! 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Image courtesy of © Dennis Lee-Imagn Images Following the Twins 6-2 win at Target Field over the Texas Rangers on Wednesday night, Jorge Alcala was called into manager Rocco Baldelli's office. He was told he had been traded. He went back out to the locker room and exchanged hugs with teammates. Earlier in the day on Wednesday, it was announced that the Twins had claimed lefty reliever Joey Wentz off of waivers from the Pittsburgh Pirates. He will join the Twins before their Thursday afternoon game with the Rangers, taking the 26-man roster spot of Alcala. Pablo Lopez was moved to the 60-Day Injured List. In return the Twins will receive 21-year-old utility man Andy Lugo. In 44 games for High-A Greenville this season, he is hitting .265/.327/.430 (.758) with 11 doubles and four homers. He has played 21 games at first base, 16 at third base, and four games in left field. Presumably, he will remain at the High-A level and join the Cedar Rapids Kernels. Immediately Lugo will become one of the best bat-flippers in the Twins organization. He got some great height on this effort. data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw== How do we summarize Jorge Alcala's time with the Twins? No doubt, it was a rollercoaster, filled with some remarkably high highs, and each coupled with a remarkably low-low. Alcala came to the Twins organization with outfielder Gilberto Celestino from the Astros in exchange for reliever Ryan Pressly days before the 2018 trade deadline. Pressly was one of the most successful Rule 5 picks in Twins history, but he had his ups and downs for a few seasons before putting together some advanced statistical metrics that got a lot of teams excited. He went on to Houston and became one of the most dominant late-inning relievers in baseball. Twice an All-Star, he was on the mound when the Astros won the 2022 World Series title. Celestino was a highly-touted prospect still in the rookie leagues. He had signed as a 16-year-old for a seven-figure bonus a couple of years earlier. He got rushed to the Twins, made some great defensively plays, and struggled mightily with the bat. At the time of the trade, Jorge Alcala was touted as a hard-throwing starting pitcher at Double-A. He was also lean and prone to issuing too many walks. The Twins gave him about a season of starts to see what they had, and they ultimately decided that he would be best working out of the bullpen. Clearly this was a wise move. He could air things out for one or two innings at a time. His time as a starter allowed him to develop a slider. He threw a changeup, but it never really developed fully which made him a two-pitch pitcher. But as we have seen ever since his two-game debut at the end of the 2019 season, those were, at times, two really, really good pitches. Blessed with a fastball that sat consistently in the upper-90s, Alcala frequently hit 100 mph in games over the past few years. And while his slider wasn't always consistent for him, when it was on, it could be a devastating swing-and-miss pitch. While he was seemingly always the guy that the front office would send down to Triple-A when there was a need, he typically came back and had a very dominant streak. Unfortunately, he also dealt with a lot of shoulder issues earlier in his career which slowed his development to some degree. He missed most of the 2022 and 2023 seasons. He was solid in 2024, even reliable for an extended time frame, but then came the game against Texas where it literally seemed like a safe lead was gone in a matter of about eight pitches when he came into the ball game. Since that moment, he just has not been able to find it. "It" might be release point, or grip, or balance, or mojo, or any number of things. In 22 appearances this year, he was 0-2 with an 8.88 ERA and a 1.81 WHIP. In 24 1/3 innings, he had 28 strikeouts, but he also walked 15 batters and opponents made a lot of hard contact against him among their 29 hits. He went from being the next guy behind Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax, and Cole Sands, to being used in low-leverage situations, to almost not being usable. And, when the Twins put him on their Opening Day roster, it wasn't long before they could not option him due to service time. Hoping that a change of scenery or a new voice will help, he was dealt to the Boston Red Sox, a team that definitely needs bullpen arms. And I don't think many Twins fans will be surprised if Alcala finds himself. He showed with the Twins just how good he can be. I think Twins fans would be happy for Alcala if he's able to turn it around. Meanwhile, one of his good friends, lefty Jovani Moran was traded to the Red Sox in the offseason for Mickey Gasper. He missed all of the 2024 season after having Tommy John Surgery. He is rehabbing now. He pitched a couple of games in the FCL, and he is currently getting some innings in with the Double-A Portland Sea Dogs. Moran, like Alcala, has certainly shown he can be a quality MLB reliever. The Red Sox have Aroldis Chapman closing games this year. Justin Slaten was very good, but he's on the IL with shoulder inflammation. They have called up guys from Triple-A Worcester, and shuttled them up and down for awhile now. Former Twin Liam Hendriks has struggled in his return from Tommy John and is currently on the IL. So is another former Twins pitcher, Nick Burdi. While they have some intriguing starters, their bullpen could use the good Jorge Alcala. The Red Sox pitching coach is former big-leaguer Andrew Bailey. Peter Fatse, their hitting coach, was with the Twins as a minor-league hitting coordinator when Alcala was in the Twins upper levels. Former Twins pitcher Craig Breslow is the Chief Baseball Officer. The Sox "stole" Justin Willard from the Twins organization. He had been the Twins assistant minor-league pitching coordinator. Now he is the Red Sox Director of Pitching (for all levels). In addition, Kyle Boddy is a Special Advisor to the CBO, and he's well respected for his pitching knowledge. In other words, maybe Alcala is going to a situation that is perfect for him and he'll regain the form we know he can. Or maybe not. Ultimately, the Twins were going to DFA him, and the Red Sox didn't want to have to hope that he got to them on the waiver wire. He wouldn't have. Alcala's got an arm that would be intriguing to a lot of teams, especially those who aren't playing for 2025 anymore. The Twins got a minor-league hitter, a 21-year-old who is at least intriguing. It'll be fun to watch him develop. What are your thoughts on the Jorge Alcala/Andy Lugo trade? Leave a comment below. View full article

I wonder if Ford had an opt-out. And, with Toby trying to get playing time for Jose Miranda, Ed Julien and Mickey Gasper, they're certainly the priority. But, with St. Paul's ability to make hitters look really good, Sabato could really put up some numbers there.

Now that is some good research! Maybe they've got it planned where Walker Jenkins and CJ Culpepper get back to Wichita at the same time, and Kaelen Culpepper gets promoted the same day. Culpepper_roll.mp4

I definitely think Sabato should get an opportunity for regular ABs in St. Paul soon. They've invested in him, and he keeps showing up and producing, and this year he is really producing well. Player development is rarely linear, and if he gets to the big leagues at 27 and can be a league-average 1B for 3-5 years, that'd be great. Culpepper must be nearing a promotion. Maybe another week or two at most. I really enjoy watching Ben Ross play shortstop for Wichita, and think he'll continue to play regularly in the infield and outfield, but Culpepper is ready to move up and they won't hold him back.

Image courtesy of Rob Thompson, St. Paul Saints The Twins and all four of their affiliates played on Saturday Lots of good content for you below. CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 35-30 (2nd in AL Central, 7.0 games behind Detroit.) St. Paul Saints: 30-30 (6th place in the International League West Division, 7.0 games behind Nashville.) Wichita Wind Surge: 29-28 (tied 2nd in Texas League North, 2.0 games behind Springfield.) Cedar Rapids Kernels: 32-24 (2nd place in the Midwest League’s West Division, 0.5 games behind Quad Cities.) Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 26-31 (6th place in the Florida State League’s West Division, 7.5 games behind Lakeland.) FCL Twins: 15-10 (1st in FCL South, 0.5 games ahead of the FCL Rays. DSL Twins: 1-4 TRANSACTIONS The Twins optioned Travis Adams to St. Paul after Sunday afternoon’s game. With Zebby Matthews on the IL, it would make sense for the Twins to call up a starting pitcher for Tuesday. The Saints put infielder Ryan Fitzgerald on the 7-Day IL with an ankle sprain. CJ Culpepper had his rehab assignment moved to Fort Myers (to the Mighty Mussels). SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 2, Scranton Wilkes Barre 7 Box Score It was a rough first inning for Randy Dobnak and the Saints. He gave up four runs, all in the top of the first inning. In three innings, he gave up three hits, walked three, and struck out two batters. Jarret Whorff was first out of the bullpen. He gave up an unearned run on one hit over his two innings. Ryan Jensen gave up two runs on three hits and a walk in the sixth inning. Jacob Bosiokovic struck out two in a scoreless inning. Cody Laweryson made his first appearance with the Saints since the 2023 season (when he spent the full season there). He worked two scoreless innings. The Saints avoided being shutout with two runs in the ninth inning. Edouard Julien led off the inning with a home run, his second with the Saints. Anthony Prato followed with a double. He scored on a triple by Jeferson Morales. The Saints had seven hits in the game. Julien was 4-for-4. Morales was 1-for-2 and walked twice. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 5, NW Arkansas 6 Box Score The Wind Surge took an early lead, and in the fourth inning, they were ahead 4-0. But the Naturals kept the game close, slowly worked their way into the game. In the first inning, Gabriel Gonzalez and Aaron Sabato walked. With two outs, Kala’i Rosario lined a triple that drove in both runners. The Surge added on in the top of the second inning when Ben Ross launched his fourth homer of the season to make it 3-0. Wichita took a 4-0 lead in the top of the fourth when Andrew Cossetti hit his fifth homer of the season. Lefty Aaron Rozek was very good again on Sunday. He gave up a fourth-inning run, but that’s it. Over five innings, he gave up three hits, walked three and struck out three batters. John Klein came in to start the sixth inning. He gave up two runs in the seventh inning on one hit. He had three walks and two strikeouts in 2 1/3 innings. With a runner on, John Stankiewicz walked two batters but ended the eighth inning without any further damage. With just a 4-3 lead, the Surge got back on the scoreboard in the seventh inning. With two outs, Kyler Fedko was hit by a pitch. Aaron Sabato followed with a double that scored Fedko and gave the Surge a 5-3 lead. In the eighth inning, Sabato hit a single to left, but Fedko was thrown out at home. The insurance run might have been good. Jaylen Nowlin started the ninth. He hit the first batter, but got a flyout for the first out. Gavin Cross hit a single, but another fly out put the Surge just one out from the win. Joel Cesar was brought in to replace Nowlin. On a 3-1 pitch, Dustin Dickerson hit a three-run, walk-off homer to give the Naturals a 6-5 win. Fedko was 2-for-4 and was hit by a pitch. Sabato was 2-for-4 with a walk and his 10th double. Kala’i Rosario was 2-for-4 with a walk and his second triple of the season. Jake Rucker was also 2-for-4. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 5, Wisconsin 7 Box Score The Rattlers jumped ahead. Cedar Rapids scored four of the final five innings, but it wasn’t enough to catch up. The Kernels lost for the third straight time. Tanner Hall started for Cedar Rapids and gave up four runs on seven hits and three walks. Wilker Reyes came on and gave up three runs on three hits and a walk over 1 1/3 innings. Paulshawn Pasqualotto allowed two inherited runners to score, but over his 1 2/3 he was charged with no additional runs on two hits and a walk. He struck out three batters. Kade Bragg struck out one in a perfect eighth. The Kernels were unable to score in the first four innings. Rayne Doncon hit his third homer in the season to cut the deficit to 4-1. In the sixth, Kaelen Culepper led off with a double. He moved up a base on a passed ball and scored on a Kyle DeBarge sacrifice fly. With two on and two out in the top of the seventh, Culpepper tripled to drive in Caden Kendle and Misael Urbina. It cut the deficit to 7-4. Brandon Winokur led off the eighth with his 15th double of the season. Danny Andrade singled him to third. Winokur scored on a double play. However, 7-5 was as close as they could get. Culpepper went 3-for-5 with his ninth double and second triple. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers 0, Palm Beach 4 Box Score This game was quite the pitcher’s duel. No runs scored until Palm Beach scored two runs in the top of the seventh. They added two more runs in the ninth, and that was it. C.J. Culpepper continued his rehab. He needed just 43 pitches to work through three scoreless innings. He gave up just one hit, walked one and had four strikeouts. Michael Carpenter came in. He threw three zeroes on the board. In all, he went 3 2/3 innings and gave up one run on two hits and two walks. He struck out three batters. Jakob Hall came on and gave up two hits. He allowed an inherited runner to score and one of his own. Josh Bortka struck out three in the eighth inning. Zander Sechrist gave up two runs on three hits and a walk. The Mussels had just two hits. Ricardo Pena hit his second double. PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids): 3-for-5, 2B(9), 3B(2), R Pitcher of the Day Aaron Rozek (Wichita): 5 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, 80 pitches, 48 strikes (60.0%) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our updated Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Sunday. #1– Walker Jenkins (Wichita) - rehab in FM, 0-for-3, BB, K (DHd) #6 - Kaelen Culpepper (C R (played SS) #9 - Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-3, BB, 2B(15), R, K (played CF) #11 - Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-3, BB, SF, RBI, K (DHd) #14 - Gabriel Gonzalez (Wichita) - 0-for-3, 2 BB, R (played LF) #15 - C.J. Culpepper (Wichita) - rehab in FM; 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K. 43 pitches, 24 strikes (55.8%) #17 - Tanner Schobel (St. Paul) - 0-for-4, 3 K (played 3B) #19 - Carson McCusker (St. Paul) - 0-for-3, BB, 2 K (DHd) #20 - Ricardo Olivar (Wichita) - 0-for-4, BB (catcher) MONDAY PITCHING PROBABLES FCL Twins @ FCL Braves (11:00 AM CT) - TBD DSL Giants Orange @ DSL Twins (10:00 AM CT) - TBD Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the rosters, and discuss Sunday’s games, or anything else Twins minor-league related! View full article

Image courtesy of Ed Bailey, Wichita Wind Surge (photo of Aaron Sabato) It was an offensive day for the Twins affiliates. Well, most of them. It was all about pitching in the Florida State League, but the Saints, Wind Surge, Kernels and FCL Twins all scored at least eight runs on Thursday. Names you'll want to check out below include Aaron Sabato, Carson McCusker, Tanner Schobel, Danny De Andrade, Nate Baez. And Walker Jenkins got a promotion, kind of, in his rehab. The Twins loss on Thursday was ugly, and it will mean at least one transaction. We know that RHP Travis Adams will be called up and in uniform on Friday. After throwing a lot of pitches, one would assume Kody Funderburk would be optioned? The Twins and all six of their affiliates played on Thursday Lots of good content for you below. CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 34-28 (2nd in AL Central, six games behind Detroit.) St. Paul Saints: 29-28 (6th place in the International League West Division, 5.0 games behind Nashville.) Wichita Wind Surge: 28-26 (4th in Texas League North, 2.0 games behind Springfield.) Cedar Rapids Kernels: 32-21 (2nd place in the Midwest League’s West Division, 0.5 games behind Quad Cities.) Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 24-30 (6th place in the Florida State League’s West Division, 7.5 games behind Lakeland.) FCL Twins: 14-9 (2nd in FCL South, 0.5 games back of the FCL Rays. DSL Twins: 0-3 TRANSACTIONS The Twins officially placed RHP Pablo Lopez on the Injured List and recalled RHP David Festa, who started for the Twins on Thursday afternoon. After just one rehab game with the FCL Twins, Walker Jenkins has had his rehab transferred to the Mighty Mussels. Jesus Sanchez signed and sent to the DSL. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 8, Scranton Wilkes Barre 11 Box Score Tanner Schobel homers for his first Saints hit. Patrick Winkel hit his fifth. Carson McCusker hit his 11th homer. Anthony Prato, DaShawn Keirsey, McCusker, Jeferson Morales each had two hits. Marco Raya went the first 3 1/3 innings. He gave up seven runs on six hits and two walks. He had seven strikeouts. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 10, NW Arkansas 8 Box Score Have a day, Aaron Sabato! The Surge slugger went 3-for-5 with his sixth double and his sixth and seventh homers. He drove in five runs. Jorel Ortega, Andrew Cossetti, Jose Salas and Kala’i Rosario each had two hits in the game. Ortega hit his sixth homer. Mike Paredes was pitching so well out of the bullpen, why not give him a start? The righty gave up three runs on five hits over four innings. Angel Macuare then had four strikeouts over three innings of one-run ball. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 10, Wisconsin 6 Box Score The Kernels scored four runs in the first inning and then followed with one run in each of the next four innings. However, two seventh inning runs were needed for insurance late in the game. After starting both games of a doubleheader on Wednesday night, Kaelen Culpepper led of Thursday’s game with a solid single to right field. He proceeded to steal second base. Kyle DeBarge walked. Nate Baez singled to center which drove in Culpepper. DeBarge scored soon after on a passed ball. Brandon Winokur reached on an error. Danny De Andrade singled to drive in Baez. With two outs, Jay Thomason doubled which scored Winokur, but De Andrade was thrown out at home. 21-year-old Rayne Doncon came into this game batting .028 with an OPS of .257. Of course, he had missed over a month with an oblique injury that was clearly affecting him before going on the IL. But after an 0-for-5 on Wednesday night, he was just 1-for-36 on the season. He led off the second inning with his first triple of the year and scored when Culpepper singled to center. Danny De Andrade led off the top of the third inning with a double. Healthy this season, he has been a doubles machine for the Kernels this season. He has 15 doubles, four triples, and five home runs. His 24 extra base hits is tied with Lake Country’s Jose Devers for the Midwest League lead. With two outs, he stole third base and scored on a Poncho Ruiz single. With two outs in the fourth inning, Baez singled. Brandon Winokur followed by hitting a triple to center and drive in Baez with the seventh run. Jay Thomason led off the fifth inning with his first Midwest League home run. He also hit his first Midwest League double. In the seventh inning, Doncon hit his second home run of the season. With the two hits and seven total bases, Doncon is now hitting .075 (.453). Nate Baez was 3-for-5 and is now hitting .348. Culpepper was 2-for-5 and is now at .301. Jay Thomason hit his first double and his first homer with the Kernels. De Andrade went 2-for-4 with a double. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers 1, Palm Beach 2 Box Score This game was quite the pitcher’s duel. The Mussels scored in the bottom of the fifth, but the Cardinals responded with two runs in the top of the sixth, and that was it for the scoring in this game. The story for the Mussels in this one was the start of Jason Doktorczyk. The 2024 draft pick struck out five batters over five scoreless innings. He gave up two hits and didn’t issue a walk. The other big story in this game was Walker Jenkins having his rehab transferred to the Mussels. As you might expect, he was involved in the Mussels’ fifth inning run, at least a little bit. After Dameury Pena doubled, Jenkins walked. They advanced to second and third on a ground out to first base. Jose Rodriguez grounded to shortstop. Pena was off with contact and thrown out at home for the second out of the inning. Fortunately, Maddux Houghton knocked a single to right field to drive in Jenkins with the team’s lone run. Lefty Zander Sechrist came on and gave up two runs in the sixth inning. He gave up just those runs on four hits and a walk and a hit batter over 2 1/3 innings. He left with one out in the seventh inning and two runners on. However, Jacob Kisting came in and shut the door. He got five outs including three on strikeouts. The Mussels had six hits and five walks. However, they went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left 10 runners on base. Jose Rodriguez went 2-for-4 with his seventh double. Jenkins went 0-for-2 with two walks. He also threw out a baserunner trying to advance to third base for an outfield assist. COMPLEX CHRONICLES FCL Twins 8, FCL Braves 5 Box Score The Twins scored three in the first inning and held on the rest of the way for a three-run lead. Bryan Acuna led off the bottom of the first inning with a walk. Eduardo Beltre followed with a double that drove in Acuna. Daiber De Los Santos followed with a two-run homer to center field to make it 3-0 three batters into the game. Ahead 3-2 going to the bottom of the second inning, Acuna hit a one-out double. Beltre followed by switching places with Acuna to give the Twins a 4-2 lead. Melvin Rodriguez started and gave up three runs on five hits over three innings. He walked two and had four strikeouts. Aiberson Ventura came on and was charged with two runs on two hits and two walks in 1 2/3 innings. Ben Francisco came in and got a big strikeout in the fifth frame to leave the bases loaded. Matt Gabbert tossed two scoreless innings of one-hit ball to record his first save. He had two strikeouts. The bottom of the fourth inning began with a Ramiro Dominguez home run, his first of the season. Going to the bottom of the fifth, the game was tied 5-5. The inning began with an error, a single, and a double steal. Ariel Castro drove in Luis Fragoza with a sacrifice fly. With two outs, Carlos Silva doubled to drive in Irvin Nunez and give the Twins a 7-5 lead. The Twins added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth inning in a very FCL way. There was a walk, and soon after, a hit batter. With two outs, a passed ball moved runners to second and third. Another walk loaded the bases, and Ariel Castro drove in Bryan Acuna by being hit by a pitch. Beltre hit his third and fourth doubles of the season. Acuna hit his fourth double and walked twice. Nunez went 1-for-1 and walked three times. DOMINICAN DAILIES DSL Twins 5, DSL Rangers Red 9 Box Score Baby steps, sure, but the DSL Twins had, by far, their best pitching performance of the young season on Thursday afternoon. You may read that and think, “Ummm, they gave up nine runs.” Yes, but in their first game, they gave up 23 runs, and in their second game, they gave up 21 runs. Giving up single digit runs is a nice step forward. We just won’t mention that the game only went six innings before the rains came. 18-year-old Jensi Infante started. In his first pro appearance ,he gave up two runs on one hit and two walks in one inning. 19-year-old Eli Urena came in next and tossed three scoreless innings. 19-year-old Aaron Carranza, in his first appearance of the season, gave up six runs on two hits and four walks in one inning. Brandy Ceballos, who turns 18 on Saturday, came on to start the sixth inning. He gave up one run on one hit and two outs when the game came to an end due to weather. The DSL Twins scored five runs on nine hits and three walks in this game. Leadoff hitter Teilon Serrano, 17, went 2-for-3 in this game with a stolen base, his first. He is now 6-for-12 in his pro career. Jhomnardo Reyes, 17, went 2-for-3 in the game and is 5-for-10 on the season. In his pro debut, 17-year-old Cristian Bonifacio went 1-for-2 with a double and two RBI. Yovanny Moran, 17, recorded his first pro hit, a triple. Darwin Almanzar, Jose Barrios, and Gerardo Cardona each had a single and a walk in the game. PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day Aaron Sabato (Wichita): 3-for-5, 2B(6), 2-HR(7), 2 R, 5 RBI, K Pitcher of the Day Jason Doktorczyk (Fort Myers): 5 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 5 K, 53 pitches, 37 strikes (69.8%) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our updated Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Thursday. #1– Walker Jenkins (Wichita) - rehab in FM, 0-for-2, 2 BB, R, Outfield Assist #6 - Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-5, R, RBI, K, 2 SB(14) (played SS) #7 - Marco Raya (St. Paul) - 3 1/3 IP, 6 H, 7 ER, 2 BB, 7 K (76 pitches, 46 strikes (60.5%) #8 - Andrew Morris (St. Paul) - 5 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 92 pitches, 55 strikes (59.8%) #9 - Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-5, 3B(2), R, RBI, K, SB(13), (played CF) #10 - Dasan Hill (Fort Myers) - 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K, 57 pitches, 34 strikes (59.6%) #11 - Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-4, BB, R, SB(31) (played 2B) #14 - Gabriel Gonzalez (Wichita) - 1-for-5, 2B(4), R, RBI, #16 - Eduardo Beltre (FCL Twins) - 2-for-4, 2-2B(4), R, 2 RBI (played CF) #17 - Tanner Schobel (St. Paul) - 1-for-4, HR(1), R, 3 RBI, 2 K (played 3B) #19 - Carson McCusker (St. Paul) - 2-for-3, 2 BB, HR(11), 2 R, 2 RBI (DHd) #20 - Ricardo Olivar (Wichita) - 0-for-5, 2 K (played LF) FRIDAY PITCHING PROBABLES Toronto @ Minnesota (6:10 PM CT) - RHP Bailey Ober (4-1, 3.48 ERA) Scranton/Wilkes Barre St. Paul (7:07 PM CT) - RHP Andrew Morris (2-2, 4.15 ERA) Wichita @ NW Arkansas (7:05 PM CT) - RHP Trent Baker (1-2, 2.84 ERA) Cedar Rapids @ Wisconsin (6:40 PM CT) - RHP Chase Chaney (3-1, 3.97 ERA) Palm Beach @ Fort Myers (6:05 PM CT) - RHP Michael Ross (1-1, 3.68 ERA) FCL Twins @ FCL Red Sox (11:00 AM CT) - TBD DSL Twins @ DSL Blue Jays Blue (10:00 AM CT) - TBD Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the rosters, and discuss Thursday’s games, or anything else Twins minor-league related! 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He isn't a good defensive outfielder. But I think he can be an adequate outfielder defensively in time. Some of the mistakes I've seen are correctable. He's not real fast, but he does have a strong arm.

I don't think it'll be too long. Big day again today for him. Nate Baez is the one that may be the most deserving in CR is Nate Baez. He's been on a tear all season.

Saints released Armando Alvarez and added Schobel. Jose Salas moved up from Cedar Rapids to Wichita. Jay Thomasson promoted from Fort Myers to Cedar Rapids.

Image courtesy of William Parmeter (photo of Dameury Pena) On the final day of May, the Mighty Mussels put together their best all-around game. The Kernels got a strong start, a big homer, but did they hang on? And for those who were worried... and you'll see this again... A hit streak continues. CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 31-26 (Tied with Cleveland for 2nd in AL Central, six games behind Detroit.) St. Paul Saints: 28-25 (Tied with Iowa for 5th place in the International League West Division, 4.0 games behind Nashville.) Wichita Wind Surge: 25-25 (4th in Texas League North, 1.0 games behind Springfield, NW Arkansas, Arkansas.) Cedar Rapids Kernels: 29-20 (2nd place in the Midwest League’s West Division, 1.5 games behind Quad Cities.) Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 22-28 (6th place in the Florida State League’s West Division, 7.5 games behind Lakeland.) FCL Twins: 12-9 (2nd in FCL South, 2.5 games back of the FCL Rays. TRANSACTIONS The Twins activated OF Matt Wallner from the IL after his 10-day rehab stint with Fort Myers. OF DaShawn Keirsey, Jr was optioned to St. Paul. Connor Prielipp has been activated from the Development List and is scheduled to start on Sunday for Wichita. RHP Teague Conrad was placed on the FCL Twins roster. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 2, Omaha 5 Box Score Ryan Fitzgerald homered in the ballpark he called home a season ago, but it wasn’t enough for his Saints club on Saturday. Down 1-0 in the top of the fourth inning, the 30-year-old veteran who recently made his MLB debut launched his fifth home run of the season, a two-run shot to give the Saints a 2-1 lead, but that was about it for the Saints offense. Andrew Morris was on the mound for the Saints. He gave up a single run in the first inning. In the bottom of the fourth frame, MJ Melendez hit a two-run homer. #OldFriend Diego Castillo hit a solo homer in the fifth inning for the Storm Chasers. Morris gave up four runs on eight hits and two walks. He had two strikeouts. Randy Dobnak worked the final three innings. He gave up just one run on three hits and struck out four batters. Melendez hit his second homer of the night, a solo shot, in the eighth inning. The Twins had six hits and six walks on the day. They did get production from a couple of now-veterans who really need to produce. Jose Miranda went 3-for-5 with his sixth double. Edouard Julien was 0-for-1 with three walks. Along with his fifth homer, Fitzgerald also hit his 12th double. Catcher Patrick Winkel walked twice as well. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 5, Tulsa 6 (10 innings) Box Score Cossetti and Kala’i provided the power, but not enough as the Wind Surge fell short in extra innings. Down 1-0 in the second, Andrew Cossetti hit his fourth homer of the season to tie the game. An inning later, Kala’i Rosario hit his fifth homer of the year to make it 2-1. Ricardo Olivar followed with a double and scored on a two-out double by Cossetti. Trent Baker started for Wichita. He gave up a first-inning run, but then worked three scoreless innings. Unfortunately, in the top of the fifth inning, he gave up two runs and left the game with two runners on base and the game tied. John Stankiewicz came in and gave up a run-scoring single to put Tulsa up 4-3. But in the bottom of the sixth the Surge grabbed the lead back. Tanner Schobel and Gabriel Gonzalez started the inning with singles. With one out, Rosario singled to left to score Schobel. On the throw to the plate, both runners advanced into scoring position. Gonzalez scored on a ground out by Olivar. Baker ended up going 4 2/3 innings and gave up four runs on four hits and a walk. He also had seven strikeouts. Stankiewicz gave up two hits and a walk but got four outs and didn’t allow a run of his own. Jarret Whorff gave up a run in the top of the seventh inning on a two-out solo homer by Ezequiel Pagan. Whorff pitched a scoreless eighth inning. Cody Laweryson pitched a scoreless inning. Laweryson allowed the Manfred Man to score on a one-out single by Pagan. Unfortunately, the Wind Surge went one-two-three in the bottom of the 10th inning without advancing their Manfred Man. Rosario went 2-for-3 with two walks and a home run. Cossetti hit his fifth double and fourth homer and also walked. Gonzalez went 2-for-6 with his third double. Olivar added his seventh double of the season. Schobel had a single, a walk, and was hit by a pitch. The single pushed his hitting streak to 18 games, the highest in the league this season. The Wind Surge went 2-for-17 with runners in scoring position and left 13 on base. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 3, Lake County 2 Box Score Chase Chaney was terrific on Saturday. Kyle DeBarge came up with a huge hit, and the bullpen held on to a nice win for the Kernels. Chaney, a 25-year-old righty who signed as a minor-league free agent with the Twins in the offseason, made his sixth Kernels start. He has completed six innings in four of his six starts, and completed five in the other two. On Saturday, he went six innings. He gave up one run on six hits. The lone run he allowed came on a solo homer by outfielder Wuilfredo Antunez in the fourth inning. He walked none, hit one, and had one strikeout. The Kernels took the lead in the bottom of the third inning. With two outs, Payton Eeles walked. Kyle DeBarge followed with a two-run homer, his fifth homer of the season. In the bottom of the seventh inning, Poncho Ruiz hit a one-out double. Misael Urbina hit an infield single which allowed Ruiz time to advance to third base. Kaelen Culpepper came up and lined an RBI single to left field to give the Kernels a 3-1 lead. Lefty Samuel Perez pitched a perfect seventh inning. He came back out for the eighth inning and gave up a single, but that was followed by a double play. He issued a two-out walk, and at that point, Cole Percival was called out of the bullpen who gave up back-to-back singles, the latter drove in a run (charged to Perez) to cut the Kernels lead to 3-2, but he got a fly out to end the eighth. Percival came out to start the ninth inning with a 3-2 lead. He started with a strikeout, but then he hit a batter. That was followed by a single. With runners on first and second, manager Brian Meyer turned to lefty Gabriel Yanez. He got a fly out and a pop out to end the game with a win in front of the Veterans Memorial Stadium fans. DeBarge went 2-for-4 with a homer. He was the lone Kernel with more than one hit. Ruiz doubled for the second time since his promotion a couple of days ago. Brandon Winokur added his 12th double of the season. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers 11, Tampa 1 Box Score It was a Dason Day for the Mussels in Tampa. The young flamethrower was terrific, and the lineup reached double digits. Let’s start with Dason Hill’s performance. The lefty tossed three scoreless innings. He gave up one hit, walked two, and had five strikeouts. While we didn’t get pitch velocities for every pitch from Tampa, Hill’s fastball was consistently hitting 96 mph. Michael Ross, the Twins 18th-round pick in 2024 from Samford, came on to start the fourth inning. He was fantastic. Over five innings, he gave up one run on five hits (a solo home run). He had eight strikeouts without a walk. 52 of his 71 pitches were strikes (73%). Hunter Hoopes struck out two in a perfect ninth inning, completing a strong game on the mound for the Mussels. For the fifth time this season, the Mussels offense reached double digit in runs scored. After two scoreless innings, the Mussels got things going with a five-run third inning. The inning had a bit of an FCL feel to it. Blaze O’Saben started the inning by reaching on an error. After a passed ball, O’Saben scored on a single by Yohander Martinez. Next, Dameury Pena reached on an error, and Maddux Houghton walked to load the bases. The next two batters got out without getting the ball out of the infield. However, Miguel Briceno walked to score Martinez. That was followed by a bases-clearing double by Jefferson Valladares. The fourth inning began with an O’Saben single. He stole second and went to third on a wild pitch. With one out, Dameury Pena walked. He stole second, and O’Saben scored on a throwing error by the catcher. 6-0 Mussels. Jump ahead to the top of the seventh inning. Houghton walked and stole second and third. Luke Napleton walked and stole second. With one out Briceno drove both in with a single to center. That made the score 8-1. The top of the eighth inning started with a double by Ricardo Pena. O’Saben was hit by a pitch. With one out, and following a pitching change, Dameury Pena completed the team’s scoring with a three-run homer, his third of the season. The Mussels scored their 11 runs on just seven hits. No one had more than one hit. They also had five walks and were hit by two pitches. They were also helped by four Tampa errors. They forced the issue with six stolen bases. The team was 4-for-14 with runners in scoring position and left just four on base. Dameury Pena, Miguel Briceno, and Jefferson Valladares each had three RBI. COMPLEX CHRONICLES FCL Twins 1, FCL Red Sox 3 Box Score On Saturday morning, the FCL Twins traveled down Daniels Parkway to take on the Red Sox squad. Most likely they would have made a late-innings comeback, but the rains came and the game was called in the sixth inning. Joel Garcia made the start. He went 4 1/3 innings and gave up three runs on four hits. He walked one and had four strikeouts. Aiberson Ventura came on with two runners on base and a double scored both of them. He got the next two batters out, one on a strikeout. Andrew Huffman was about to start pitching in the sixth when the rains came. The Twins managed just three hits in this game. The team’s lone run came in the fourth inning. With one out, Daiber De Los Santos walked. He stole second. With two outs, there was a wild pitch which, coupled with a throwing error by the catcher, allowed De Los Santos to score. Luis Fragoza followed that by knocking his fourth double. PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day Ryan Fitzgerald (St. Paul): 2-for-4, 2B(12), HR(5), R, 2 RBI, K Andrew Cossetti (Wichita): 2-for-4, BB, 2B(5), HR(4), R, 2 RBI, K Kala’i Rosario (Wichita): 2-for-3, 2 BB, HR (5), R, 2 RBI, K. Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids): 2-for-4, HR(5), R, 2 RBI Pitcher of the Day Chase Chaney (Cedar Rapids): 6 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, K, 91 pitches, 57 strikes (62.6%) Michael Ross (Fort Myers): 5 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 HBP, 8 K, 71 pitches, 52 strikes (73.2%) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our updated Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Saturday. #6 - Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-4, RBI (played SS) #8 - Andrew Morris (St. Paul) - 5 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 92 pitches, 55 strikes (59.8%) #9 - Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-4, 2B(12) (played CF) #10 - Dasan Hill (Fort Myers) - 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K, 57 pitches, 34 strikes (59.6%) #11 - Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-4, HR(5), R, 2 RBI (played 2B) #14 - Gabriel Gonzalez (Wichita) - 2-for-6, 2B(3), R, K #16 - Eduardo Beltre (FCL Twins) - 0-for-2, BB, 2 K (played CF) #17 - Tanner Schobel (Wichita) - 1-for-4, BB, HBP, R #20 - Ricardo Olivar (Wichita) - 1-for-5, 2B(7), R, RBI, 2 K SUNDAY PITCHING PROBABLES Minnesota @ Seattle (3:10 PM CT) - RHP Chris Paddack (2-5, 3.92 ERA) St. Paul @ Omaha (5:05 PM CT) - RHP Travis Adams (3-1, 3.20 ERA) Tulsa @ Wichita (1:05 PM CT) - LHP Connor Prielipp (0-2, 4.30 ERA) Lake County @ Cedar Rapids (1:05 PM CT) - RHP Alejandro Hidalgo (0-1, 6.47 ERA) Fort Myers @ Tampa (11:00 AM CT) - RHP Adrian Bohorquez (0-3, 14.34 ERA) Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the rosters, and discuss Saturday’s games, or anything else Twins minor-league related! 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And frankly, when guys are signed from indy leagues, no one is projecting them to be big leaguers. For the most part, they are signed as fillers. At this point, frankly, they need some arms at various levels, so they'll sign some older guys who have shown some ability to eat innings. And if they keep pitching or hitting well, they move up. And also, sign them at 24 or 26... if they stay healthy and actually do move up, you're probably talking about maybe a cup of coffee in the big leagues. So, the whole prospect thing, age to level of competition isn't a factor at all. Even these signings are all different. Sam Coonrod is 32 and throwing 97. He's going to AAA and has 5 seasons of MLB time. That's a signing for AAA and maybe even the big leagues. Signing Tyler Dearden after he already spent 4-5 years in the minors and then came from indy ball, and he's played in High-A and AA. Signing Dobnak as a 22-year-old undrafted free agent from the USPBL is different than signing a 26-year-old. Oh, and I do think it's worth mentioning the offensive struggles of some of the Fort Myers prospects. Yasser Mercedes and Jose Rodriguez and Byron Chourio have all struggled. The lineup barely has anyone hitting over .200. Jay Thomasson probably deserves a promotion to Cedar Rapids. The other player they get consistent performance from is Maddux Houghton, a non-drafted guy who based on age and productivity has more than earned a promotion.