Seth Stohs

My assumption is they're going to use the full 30 days rehab allowed. If they have a need, he'll get called up. If they don't, they'll DFA him, knowing his contract was high enough that a team isn't going to claim him (especially coupled with mediocre AAA numbers).

Image courtesy of Rob Thompson, St. Paul Saints (photo of Mickey Gasper), Ed Bailey, Wichita Wind Surge (photo of Connor Prielipp) On Thursday afternoon, the Minnesota Twins completed their sweep of the Baltimore Orioles. It was their fifth straight win. Since starting the season 5-11, the Twins have gone 13-9. They have also won nine of their last 13 games. Long seasons are filled with good stretches and bad stretches for teams, but also for players. That’s, in many cases, even more the case in the minor leagues when development is the #1 key. CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 18-20 St. Paul Saints: 18-14 Wichita Wind Surge: 16-14 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 19-10 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 15-15 FCL Twins: 3-1 TRANSACTIONS No surprise, but unfortunately, Austin Martin has been placed on the injured list with a hamstring strain. LHP Kade Bragg has been promoted to High-A Cedar Rapids from Fort Myers. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 13, Buffalo 10 Box Score If you’re a fan of baseball games with big offense, you’ll like this game. The two teams combined for 23 runs and 26 hits. If you’re a fan of consistent scoring throughout the game, rather than one big inning and nothing else, you’ll like this game. Neither team scored more than three runs in an inning. Of the 18 half-innings played in the nine-inning game, just five times were no runs scored. All nine Saints hitters had at least one hit. They combined for four homers. The team also walked seven times. Oh, and hey, if you enjoy watching a baseball game in which one of your favorite team’s recently-optioned players with a great mustache ends the game with a walk-off home run. Then this is your game. Cory Lewis started and went the first four innings. He gave up one run in three of them yet really limited the damage. He gave up three runs on seven hits and two walks. Richard Lovelady threw the fifth inning. He gave up three unearned runs on one hit and one walk. The hit just happened to be a three-run homer by Ali Sanchez. That came in the fifth inning. Michael Tonkin was next, continuing his rehab stint. He was charged with two runs on three hits and two walks and a hit batter. He struck out two batters. Brady Feigl came on and calmed things down. He got five straight batters out, three of them on strikeouts. He got the Saints through the eighth inning. Down 2-0 in the bottom of the third, the Saints tied the game. With one out, Will Holland walked and stole second base, but he was able to jog home when Ryan Fitzgerald hit his fourth home run of the season. Let’s jump ahead. When the Saints came to the plate for the bottom of the fifth inning, they were behind 6-2. Jair Camargo led off with a double. After one out, Holland hit his second homer since his return from the IL to make it 6-4. With two outs, Mickey Gasper and Edouard Julien had back-to-back walks. Carson McCusker singled to left to drive in Gasper with the third run of the inning. In the top of the sixth, the Bisons scored two more runs and held an 8-5 lead. In the bottom of the sixth, a Jeferson Morales walk, a Camargo single, and Anthony Prato was hit by a pitch to load the bases. After a pitching change, Will Holland hit a sacrifice fly to make it 8-6. Unfortunately, that was all they were able to muster. Then in the bottom of the seventh, Carson McCusker hit his eighth double. With two outs, Morales singles to drive him in and make it 8-7. Because of the Feigl outing, Buffalo went scoreless in the seventh and eighth innings. Still down a run going to the bottom of the eighth, the Bisons brought in Eric Pardinho. Prato led off with a single. With one out, Fitzgerald singled. However, with two outs, Julien singled off of the pitcher to load the bases. A wild pitch scored Prato to tie the game for the first time since the third inning. McCusker walked. Then Mike Ford singled to drive in Fitzgerald and Julien and the Saints went to the ninth inning with a 10-8 lead. Lefty Anthony Misiewicz came on. With one out, he issued a walk and then gave up a home run to Riley Tirotta which again tied the game, this time at 10-10. He got the final two batters out. So, we jump to the bottom of the ninth with the score tied. Camargo led off with a single. After a ground out, Holland walked. A new pitcher was brought in, and he got a strikeout for the second out. Flashback - One night earlier, Josh Walker was brought in in the ninth inning. Mike Ford hit a three-run homer off of him. Flash to Current - That brought to the plate Mickey Gasper, recently optioned, fantastically-mustached, and to this point in the game, hitless. He took a hack at the first pitch, an 83 mph curveball that hung right over the middle of the plate and hit it 104.5 mph at a 21 degree angle, and it landed 402 feet from home plate, over the outfield fencing, to give the Saints a 13-10, walk off win. Carson McCusker went 3-for-3 with his eighth double, two walks and a stolen base. He extended his career-high, 11-game hitting streak. Through 30 games, he is hitting .352/.424/.686 (1.110) with eight doubles, nine homers and 29 RBI. Jair Camargo went 3-for-5 with a double. Fitzgerald was 2-for-6 with his fourth homer. Holland went 1-for-2, walked twice, and hit his second homer. What a fun game. If you were there, what did you see? Granted, I am not a fan of 3 1/2 hour games, but this one had game-action throughout. Was it as exciting, maybe even more exciting being there? The Buffalo Bisons are the Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. Check out our sister site, Jays Centre, and their Top 20 Blue Jays prospect rankings. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 5, NW Arkansas 3 Box Score The Wind Surge started fast and held on through the end for a nice, 5-3 win. It ended their five-game losing streak, which was their longest of the season. A good way to start a game on the road is to score in the top of the first inning. With one out, Ricardo Olivar hit his fourth home run of the season to give the team a 1-0 lead. Rubel Cespedes singled to right which was followed by a Kala’i Rosario walk. The runners advanced to second and third on a wild pitch. Ben Ross flew out to center, deep enough to score Cespedes. Kyler Fedko walked before Aaron Sabato crushed a double to score two runs and make it 4-0. It also caused a pitching change. That’s where the score remained until the top of the fifth. With two outs, Fedko walked again and stole second base. Sabato hit an infield single down the third base line. Andrew Cossetti drove in Fedko with a double. Connor Prielipp made the start and was really good. In his 46 pitches, he was able to complete four scoreless innings. He gave up three hits, walked none and struck out a career-high six batters. Of his 46 pitches, 37 of them were strikes. That’s an impressive 80.4% It is rare to see a pitcher throw 80% strikes. I’m sure we haven’t seen it yet this season… (Note - you’ll want to see how many strikes one of the Mighty Mussels pitchers threw on Thursday.) Angel Macuare pitched a perfect fifth inning. Mike Paredes gave up two runs on one hit. In 2 1/3 innings, he walked three, hit one and had three strikeouts. He gets the Win to improve to 4-0. Michael Martinez came on with the bases loaded and got out of the jam in the eighth inning. He started the ninth and gave up one run. He got one out, but Joel Cesar came on with the bases loaded. He allowed one of the runs to score but got the final two outs for his third save of the season. Sabato led the way, going 3-for-4 with his fifth double and two RBI. Cespedes went 2-for-4 with a walk and stole his first base of the year. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 5, Beloit 14 Box Score If you just see the final score, it sure tells a different story than what most of the game was. At the 7th inning stretch, Beloit led 2-1. Tanner Hall started and gave up two unearned runs on three hits and two walks over 4 2/3 innings. He had two strikeouts. The Kernels actually scored first. In the top of the fifth inning, Nate Baez singles and Jose Salas was hit by a pitch. Caden Kendle knocked his sixth double to drive in Baez with the game’s first run. However, despite having runners on second and third and nobody out, the Kernels were unable to add another run. In the bottom of the fifth, the Sky Carp took the lead with two runs. Spencer Bengard came on with a runner on third base and two outs in the fifth and got the final out of the inning on a strikeout. In the sixth inning, he fielded a ground ball, got another soft groundout, and had a strikeout. Then came the National Anthem. When Bengard returned to the mound to start the bottom of the seventh, he uncharacteristically issued two walks before Eric Rataczak singled to load the bases. Bengard responded with a strikeout for the first out. Another walk tied the game at 2-2. But Bengard got another strikeout. However, Ryan Ignoffo hit a 2-0 pitch for a long, grand slam that turned a 3-1 game into a 7-1 game. Gabriel Yanez came in and gave up a double, followed by a triple and the score was 8-1 after seven innings. Impressively, the Kernels didn’t just give up. In the top of the eighth, Kyle DeBarge led off with a walk. Brandon Winokur and Gabriel Gonzalez singled to load the bases. Danny De Andrade knocked his 11th double to drive in two runs. Gonzalez scored on a sacrifice fly. De Andrade scored on a single that made it 8-5, a game again. But, the Sky Carp gave up six more runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to put the game away. The Kernels had seven hits and three walks. Kyle DeBarge was 0-for-1 but walked three times and was hit by a pitch. He also stole his 17th base without yet being caught this season. Gonzalez went 2-for-5. Baez was 2-for-4. While I rarely write about players on the opponent’s team (unless there is a connection to the Twins), Beloit catcher Ryan Ignoffo hitting two grand slams in the game seems noteworthy. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers 4, Dunedin 5 Box Score On Tuesday, the Mussels mounted a comeback and walked it off in extra innings. On Thursday, the teams battled to another close game. Were the Mussels able to complete the comeback again? Jakob Hall made the start. He gave up three runs in the first inning and one in the second inning. In four innings, he was charged with four runs on four hits. He walked two, hit two, and struck out three batters. Hall finished with two scoreless innings. Lefty Zander Secrist kept that streak going. He put four zeroes on the board which gave the Mussels the opportunity to play some catch up. He coaxed three groundouts in the fifth inning. In the sixth, a Peyton Powell single was surrounded by two groundouts and a strikeout. The seventh inning was another 1-2-3 inning with a strikeout, a groundout and a line out. In the eighth inning, he got an infield pop up and two outs. In other words, he was completely dominant for four innings. In the bottom of the fourth inning, Poncho Ruiz led off with a single. He advanced to second when Fort Myers’ own, Peyton Carr, was hit by a pitch. Maddux Houghton doubles to drive in the team’s first run of the game. Yohander Martinez followed with a two-run single to left field to cut the deficit to 4-3. With one out in the fifth frame, Jay Thomason singled to the opposite field. He stole second and reached base on a throwing error. That tied the score at four, and that's where it remained until the ninth inning. Secrist, who won a College World Series title at Tennessee less than a year ago, returned to the mound to start the top of the ninth inning. Unfortunately, Jean Joseph attacked the southpaw’s first pitch, a 70-mph slider, presumably meant to get a quick strike. Joseph hit it, 98.4 mph, and he flew 362 feet, landing in the left field berm at Hammond Stadium. Likely disappointed, he responded with two strikeouts and a ground out to first base to end the half-inning. Did the Mussels have another comeback in them? No. A flyout and two strikeouts and the Mussels dropped this game 5-4. Remember above my comments about how often we see a pitcher throw 80% strikes in a game? Connor Prielipp threw 37 strikes among his 46 pitches (80.4%). Secrist threw one more pitch than Prielipp (47) and one more strike (38). That’s 80.9%). I’m going to guess we won’t see 80% hit by a pitcher again this year. If I bet on stuff, I’d bet that there won’t be another day with two at 80+%! Ruiz had two of the team’s seven hits. Houghton’s double was the lone extra base hit. The Dunedin Blue Jays are the Low-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. Check out our sister site, Jays Centre, and their Top 20 Blue Jays prospect rankings. COMPLEX CHRONICLES FCL Twins 10, FCL Orioles 1 Box Score The Twins swept the Orioles at Target Field, and down in Ft. Myers, the FCL Twins squad topped the FCL Orioles handily. The Twins got ahead early. They scored one run in each of the first two innings. In the first inning, he was Merphy Hernandez who led off with a walk. He stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error. He scored on a ground out. In the second frame, Ricardo Pena led off with a walk. After a fly out, Isaac Pena walked. A force-out advanced Ricardo Pena to third base with two outs. After scoring the first run, Merphy Hernandez drove in the second, with Pena scoring on a line drive to center. The score remained 2-0 Twins through four innings. Melvin Rodriguez gave up two hits and a walk over four scoreless innings on the mound. He had two strikeouts. In the top of the fifth inning, the Twins bats exploded with an eight-run inning. Ramior Dominguez led off with a walk, and Merphy was hit by a pitch. A ground out by Eduardo Beltre grounded out but both runners advanced and scored on a triple off the bat of Ariel Castro. Bryan Acuna singled him with the inning’s third run. Luis Fragoza ws hit by a pitch. After a second out, Yandro Hernandez loaded the bases thanks to a fielding error. Acuna scored on a passed ball. Isaac Pena walked to reload the bases. After a pitching change, a wild pitch scored Fragoza. Ramiro Domingez walks to again load the bases. Merphy Hernandez walked. Eduardo Beltre walked, and finally Ariel Castro walked before the inning ended. RBI walks are not all that uncommon in the Complex Leagues. Neither are wild pitches, passed balls and errors. Again, these are part of the reason that we have to be really careful about how much the stats matter this far down the organizational ladder. Santiago Rojas and Liam Rocha each threw a scoreless inning. Aiberson Ventura gave up one run on two hits in the bottom of the seventh. PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day Carson McCusker (St. Paul): 3-for-3, 2 BB, 2B(8), R, RBI Aaron Sabato (Wichita): 3-for-4, 2B(5), 2 RBI Pitcher of the Day Zander Secrist (Fort Myers): 5 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K. 47 pitches, 38 strikes (80.9%) Connor Prielipp (Wichita): 4 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K, 46 pitches, 37 strikes (80.4%) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our updated Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Thursday. #5 - Connor Prielipp (Wichita) - 4 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K, 46 pitches, 37 strikes (80.4%). #6 - Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-5, K. (SS) #9 - Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-4, HBP, R, K (CF) #11 - Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-1, 3 BB, HBP, R, K, SB(17). (DH) #12 - Cory Lewis (St. Paul) - 4 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 0 K. 79 pitches, 44 strikes (55.7%) #14 - Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-5, R, K #16 - Eduardo Beltre (FCL Twins) - 0-for-4, BB, RBI, 2 K #17 - Tanner Schobel (Wichita) - 0-for-5, 2 K #18 - Yasser Mercedes (Fort Myers) - 0-for-4, BB, K. #19 - Carson McCusker (St. Paul) - 3-for-3, 2 BB, 2B(8), R, RBI, SB(2), CS(2). #20 - Ricardo Olivar (Wichita) - 1-for-4, BB, HR(4), R, RBI, K. FRIDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Buffalo @ St. Paul (6:37 PM CST) - RHP Marco Raya (0-1, 9.00 ERA) Wichita @ NW Arkansas (4:05 PM CST) - LHP Aaron Rozek (1-1, 3.86 ERA). Cedar Rapids @ Beloit (6:05 PM CST) - RHP Jose Olivares (0-0, 0.66 ERA). Dunedin @ Fort Myers (6:05 PM CST) - LHP Michael Carpenter (0-0, 3.00 ERA). FCL Twins @ FCL Red Sox (11:00 AM CST) - TBD Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the roster, and discuss Thursday’s games, or anything else Twins minor-league related! View full article

Yes.... Castro and Lewis activated... Gasper and Julien optioned... I don't think it's tooo suprising. They weren't going to lose Clemens and Bride now.

The Saints are breaking all kinds of records so far this season... Most of them have to do with rain, and rain outs. We get another team to keep up with starting today. The FCL Twins played their first game of the season. CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 14-20 St. Paul Saints: 14-14 Wichita Wind Surge: 15-11 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 16-9 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 14-12 FCL Twins: 1-0 TRANSACTIONS Jose Salas’s rehab assignment in Fort Myers is now complete. He has been activated from the Kernels injured list. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul, Columbus Box Score The winner in this series has been clear. Mother Nature has wreaked havoc on this series. The teams were supposed to play a doubleheader on Saturday, but both games were canceled. Not just postponed at this point. They have been canceled. Saturday marked the 10th and 11th games already this season that the Saints have been rained out. The Saints will play a 148 game schedule. They hope to play the final scheduled game of this series on Sunday afternoon. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 2, Frisco 5 Box Score The Wind Surge sent Ricky Castro to the mound for the start. He went 3 2/3 innings and gave up four runs on six hits (1 homer) and a walk. He had three strikeouts. Wichita worked to come back, but were unable to come up with an answer. In the fourth inning, Ben Ross hit his second home run of the season to make it 4-1. Relievers Michael Martinez and Jarret Whorff combined to provide 3 1/3 scoreless innings and had five strikeouts. Joel Cesar gave up one run on two hits and a walk in the eighth inning. Jorel Ortega's second home run of the season came in the ninth inning, but the Surge fell short. Coming into the game, the Wind Surge ranked second in the Texas League in home runs and added two more. Seven different Wichita hitters had one hit. Kala'i Rosario added his third double. Outfielder Kyler Fedko went 0-for-2, but he walked and was hit by a pitch. He has reached base in 21 consecutive games, the current longest streak in Double-A. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 8, South Bend 3 Box Score This is one of those games where a team should go home feeling pretty good about it. The pitching was generally solid, and they had some really strong hitting performances. Jose Olivares started and went three innings. He gave up one run on two hits. He walked four and had six strikeouts. The reports on Olivares early this season have been very encouraging, even beyond the 98 mph he's hitting with his fastball. Lefty Gabriel Yanez gave up two runs on two hits and two walks over 2 1/3 innings. He had one strikeout. Logan Whitaker inherited two runners and allowed one to score. He had one strikeout over 1 2/3 innings. Paulshawn Pasqualotto walked two and struck out two batters in the final two scoreless, hitless innings. The Kernels had 13 hits and were walked nine times. Kaelen Culpepper went 4-for-5 and stole his third base. Gabriel Gonzalez went 3-for-4 with four RBI. Danny DeAndrade hit his ninth double and second triple of the season. Kyle DeBarge went 1-for-2 with three walks. He added this 13th stolen base. Brandon Winokur hit a single and walked twice. Nate Baez walked three times. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers 5, Jupiter 12 Box Score In looking at the final score, it might be hard to believe that when Jupiter came to the plate in the bottom of the fifth inning, they were behind 2-1. Lefty Dasan Hill started for the Mussels. He hit a batter and walked a batter in the top of the first but didn’t allow a run. He came out to start the second inning, but before he threw a pitch, there was an injury timeout. Presumably trainers came out to see Hill. He ended up getting the next batter to fly out, but he then came out of the game, replaced by Jacob Kisting. We don’t know much. StatCast wasn’t available and Tampa didn’t have the game televised, so little information is publicly available right now. What we know. In the first inning, Hill’s fastball was between 93 and 95.1 mph. In the second inning, he threw two fastballs, 93.7 and 94.2 mph, certainly nothing of concern there. And the final pitch he threw was an 81.1 mph slider. In the first inning, his slider was at 81.2 mph. Just 12 of his 27 total pitches were for strikes (44.4%) Jacob Kisting came on. He gave up a run in the third inning and was charged with three more in the fifth inning. He gave up four runs on five hits in 3 1/3 innings. When he was replaced in the fifth inning, he had two runners on base. Devin Kirby came on and allowed both of them to score plus another run. Kirby got seven outs, but he gave up six runs on five hits (2 homers). He started the eighth inning but the first two batters reached base. At that point, manager Seth Feldman turned things over to utilityman Miguel Briceno. Both inherited runners scored and Briceno was charged with two more of his own. But, he got the final three outs. So while the Mussels scored in three of their final four innings (3 runs), the Tarpons scored in each of their final four innings (11 runs). The Mussels had six hits and walked eight times. Maddux Houghton was 2-for-5. Poncho Ruiz and Yohander Martinez each walked twice. Yasser Mercedes, Jay Thomason and Peyton Carr had a single and a walk. COMPLEX CHRONICLES FCL Twins 4, FCL Red Sox 3 Box Score The players have been in Fort Myers for months, getting ready for this day. For some, it’s a professional debut. For others, it’s their first game in the States. Saturday morning was Opening Day in the Florida Complex League. The Twins squad made the six-mile trek down Daniels Parkway to play the FCL Red Sox at Jet Blue Park Complex. It was quite the pitchers duel through five innings. 20-year-old Joel Garcia made the start and gave up one hit and one walk over two scoreless innings. He pitched 18 innings in the FCL in 2024. 23-year-old Mitch Mueller came on and worked the next four innings. He was charged with one run on five hits and a walk over four innings to record his first win. He had four strikeouts. Born in the Twin Cities, he went to high school in Brookfield, Wisconsin. He spent a year at Parkland College and another at Winona State. He pitched at Utah Valley for two years. Upon completion of college, he pitched last summer in the independent leagues. In 30 1/3 innings, he had 51 strikeouts to just four walks. Let’s talk about some offense quickly. The Twins went into the top of the sixth inning with three walks, but no hits. Carlos Silva led off with a walk. Yilber Herrera pinch-ran for Silva. With one out, Merphy Hernandez walked. Herrera and Hernandez were successful on a double steal, but Daiber De Los Santos walked to load the bases. That brought Twins Daily’s 2024 Short-Season Minor-League Hitter of the Year Eduardo Beltre to the plate. He ended the Red Sox no-hit bid in about the best way possible, if you’re a Twins fan. He slammed a ball well beyond the mini-monster in left field. A 1-0 deficit turned into a 4-1 lead in a hurry. Mueller put a zero on the board in the sixth, and the Twins went scoreless in the seventh. Holding that 4-1 lead, the Twins turned the ball over to 6-5, 176 pound Venezuelan Aiberson Ventura to get the final three outs. Last year in the DSL, he went 3-1 with a 1.10 ERA in 10 appearances and 16 1/3 innings. The inning started with a double. After a fly out, a wild pitch advanced the runner to third base. The next batter hit a triple to cut the lead to 4-2. Ventura got a groundout for the second out of the inning. The third run scored, but the bases were empty with two outs. Time to relax, right? No! Another triple, and the Red Sox are just 90 feet from tying the game. Fortunately, Ventura got another ground ball to third baseman Luis Fragoza who made the throw to first and ended the game. Beltre went 1-for-2 with a walk and the big, grand slam. Jayson Bass added a single in the seventh inning. Ricardo Pena walked twice. PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day Eduardo Beltre (FCL Twins): 1-for-2, BB, HR(1), R, 4 RBI Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids): 4-for-5, 2 R, SB(3) Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids): 3-for-4, R, 4 RBI Pitcher of the Day Mitch Mueller (FCL Twins): 4 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K. PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our updated Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Saturday. #7 - Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-3, 2 BB, 2 K. (played CF) #8 - Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids) - 4-for-5, 2 R, SB(3). (played SS) #10 - Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids) - 3-for-4, R, 4 RBI. (played LF) #11 - Dasan Hill (Fort Myers) - 1 ⅓ IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K, 27 pitches, 12 strikes. #13 - Tanner Schobel (Wichita) - 1-for-5 (DHd) #14 - Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-2, 3 BB, 3 R, RBI, K, SB(13). (played 2B) #16 - Yasser Mercedes (Fort Myers) - 1-for-4, BB, R, #19 - Kala’i Rosario (Wichita) - 1-for-4, 2B(3), K. SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS St. Paul @ Columbus (12:05 PM CST) - RHP Zebby Matthews (2-1, 1.93 ERA) Wichita @ Frisco (4:05 PM CST) - LHP Christian MacLeod (0-0, 0.00 ERA). South Bend @ Cedar Rapids (1:05 PM CST) - RHP Jeremy Lee (1-1, 11.57 ERA). Fort Myers @ Tampa (11:00 AM CST) - RHP Dylan Questad (1-0, 1.38 ERA). Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the roster, and discuss Saturday’s games, or anything else Twins minor-league related! View full article

100% Severino is nowhere near my top 30 at this point. Beltre, Olivar and Doncon dropped out of the top 20. All of them have significantly higher ceilings, as does Daiber De Los Santos. And Pena, Diaw, Questad and Bohorquez were all a consideration at #20 for me. Something to remember for the next vote... if someone isn't available in the listing and is in your top 20, get them added.

Image courtesy of Ed Bailey, Wichita Wind Surge (photo of Tanner Schobel) In February, the Twins Daily minor league writers updated the Top 20 Twins Prospect rankings. Over the past 7-10 days, you have been able to vote, and many of you did. Thank you! CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 13-19 St. Paul Saints: 13-14 Wichita Wind Surge: 15-9 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 15-8 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 13-11 FCL Twins: Season starts on Saturday!! TRANSACTIONS Believe it or not, but the Twins made no official transactions before games played on Sunday. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 2, Columbus 5 Box Score The Saints were supposed to play two games on Thursday in Ohio, but you guessed it, Game 2 was postponed due to rain again. The teams will attempt to play two games on Friday afternoon. Fortunately, any rain held off until the conclusion of the first game. The Saints started out well. Ryan Fitzgerald led off with a single. With one out, Jeferson Morales singled. Carson McCusker put the Saints on the scoreboard with another single, and Mike Ford’s single drove in Morales to give the Saints the 2-0 lead. Cory Lewis was on the mound for the Saints, and as a knuckleballer, he can be prone to some tough innings due to bouts with control and command. In the bottom of the first, he began with a walk and then recorded a strikeout. Then a single and a walk loaded the bases. He hit a batter to allow the first run. After another strikeout, he gave up a two-run single to Kody Huff. The Saints were down 3-2 after one inning. The bottom of the second inning started better. He got a strikeout and an infield pop out. Unfortunately, a hit batter was followed by three straight singles and the team was down 4-2. Lewis was able to throw two zeroes on the board. In all, he gave up four runs on seven hits and three walks over four innings. Ryan Jensen worked the final two innings and gave up one run on one hit and a walk. The Saints had seven hits in the game. Anthony Prato was 2-for-3. Simply put, the Saints have almost no depth, and that amount dropped again during this game. In the top of the third, Armando Alvarez singled. On a pick off throw to first, Alvarez lunged toward the bag. He appeared to roll his ankle and immediately was off the bag. When the trainer got to him, they checked his ankle and his knee, and kind of everywhere in between. However, he was able to stand up and (very slowly) walk off the field under his own power, but he was definitely limping. The next half inning, Alvarez was replaced in the lineup by Emmanuel Rodriguez (in center field), and Dalton Shuffield moved from center to third base. Royce Lewis is with the team, but he had a scheduled off day in his rehab. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 5, Frisco 2 Box Score The Wind Surge jumped out to an early lead, and the pitching staff was very good in a 5-1, Thursday night down in Texas. Leading off the game, Tanner Schobel drilled a 1-2 pitch well beyond the wall in left field to give the team a 1-0 lead. With one out in the top of the second inning, Tyler Dearden hit his second homer of the season to make it 2-0. Jorel Ortega followed with a single. He stole second base which proved to be unnecessary when Schobel drilled a 3-2 fastball for a long home run to make it 4-0. Ricardo Olivar came up next and on a 1-0 pitch lined his third home run of the season to make it 5-0. I’m sure Pierson Ohl appreciated the run support. He tossed four scoreless innings. He gave up three hits, walked none and had five strikeouts. John Klein came on and was charged with two unearned runs over the next three innings. He had two hits, walked one, and struck out six batters. Jaylen Nowlin had two strikeouts in a scoreless eighth inning. John Stankiewicz got the final three outs to record his first Save of the season. Maybe Schobel got some advanced warning about returning to the Twins Daily Top 20 prospect ranking today. He put on a show. He homered in his first two at-bats and hit a double in his third plate appearance. He went 3-for-5 in the game and now has four doubles and four home runs. He is now hitting .293 with an .851 OPS. Ricardo Olivar went 2-for-5 with his third home run. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 8, Wisconsin 7 Box Score It was a back-and-forth game between the Kernels and the Cubs. At no point was the game comfortable, at least until the game’s final out was recorded. Alejandro Hidalgo made the start. He was charged with six runs on six hits and two walks. He had four strikeouts. He gave up single runs in the first and second innings. Then there was a big four-run fifth inning which included homers from a couple of the Cubs top young prospects, Ivan Brethowr and Cristian Hernandez. The Kernels were working to keep the game close. In the bottom of the first inning, Kaelen Culpepper singled and Kyle DeBarge walked before successfully completing a double steal. Culpepper scored on a Brandon Winokur ground out that tied the game at one. Down 2-1 in the fourth inning, Winokur singled and stole second. He went to third on a throwing error. He scored on a groundout by Gabriel Gonzalez to tie the game at 2-2. Then the Cubs put up their four-spot in the top of the fifth frame, but the Kernels tried to match it. The bottom of the fifth started with a Kevin Maitan triple. With one out, Kyle Hess and Culpepper walked to load the bases. DeBarge walked to drive in Maitin. Two more runs scored when Winokur reached on a throwing error. Through five innings, the Kernels were down 6-5. Wilker Reyes pitched a scoreless top of the sixth. With one out in the bottom of the sixth, Nate Baez homered to tie the game at 6-6. Maitan followed with a double. Jaime Ferrer came up and was hit by a pitch in the helmet. He went to the ground, but in time, he remained in the game. Kyle Hess followed with a double to left center field. Maitan scored the team’s seventh run. Ferrer advanced to third base. A few pitches later, Ferrer scored on a wild pitch. Reyes gave up a single run in the top of the seventh inning which cut the Kernels’ lead to 8-7. Jacob Wosinski struck out three batters over two perfect innings to give the Kernels the one-run win. Maitan’s double was his fourth of the season. The triple was his first. Culpepper went 1-for-2 with two walks. DeBarge walked twice, and he stole his 12th base. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers 1, Jupiter 5 Box Score Game 3 of the Salas Brothers Series goes to… Andrew. The speedy 17-year-old centerfielder signed by the Marlins in January went 3-for-5 in this game with an RBI. He also stole three bases. The youngest of the three Salas ballplayers has played in 15 games. He is hitting .360/.508/.420 (.928) with a double and a triple. He is 9-for-11 on stolen base attempts. A sign of maturity is that despite his youth, he had 15 walks and just 13 strikeouts. Despite his 0-for-2 on Thursday, the elder Salas (Jose) has hit .400 with a 1.145 OPS in his rehab time with the Mussels. Speaking of rehab assignments, the Hammerheads started young Eury Perez in his second rehab appearance since he had Tommy John surgery nearly two years ago. He got the first outs. On the mound for the Mussels was Adrian Bohorquez for his first start of the season. While the results are uninspiring (2.2 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 3 BB, 2 K), reports noted his increased velocity from where he was at at the end of the 2024 season. Bohorquez threw 48 pitches and 23 of them were four-seam fastballs. They averaged 95.8 mph, and he hit a high of 97.8 mph. Couple that with 16 sliders which averaged 88. Mph and maxed out at 90.6 mph. Just as important, he is able to slow things down with a slow curveball that averaged 78.6 mph. However, part of the development for a young pitcher is finding a consistent release point and tunneling. I think it’s fair to say that it would be noticeable for hitters to see when he is about to throw a curveball. Cole Peschl came on and got the final out of the third inning and worked through the sixth innings. In his 3 1/3 innings, he gave up no runs on five hits and two walks, but he also had eight strikeouts. Devin Kirby came on for the seventh inning. He was charged with three runs on two hits and a walk… and a hit batter… and two wild pitches in one inning. Kirby allowed a runner in the eighth and then was replaced by lefty Kade Bragg. He got the next four outs, all on strikeouts. He did give up one walk and hit one batter. Hunter Hoopes got the final two outs of the game. In the sixth inning, Jose Rodriguez singled to drive in Jay Thomason with the Mussels first and only run of the game. Poncho Ruiz went 2-for-3 with a walk and his fifth double. Quietly, Ruiz is hitting .339 with a .915 OPS this season. The team was 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left seven on base. PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day Tanner Schobel (Wichita): 3-for-5, 2B(4), 2-HR(4), 2 R, 3 RBI Pitcher of the Day Pierson Ohl (Wichita): 4 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K, 49 pitches, 35 strikes (71.4%) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our updated Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Thursday. #3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - 0-for-1 #7 - Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-4, R, 2 RBI, SB(6), (played 3B) #8 - Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-2, 2 BB, 2 R, SB(1), (played SS) #10 - Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-4, RBI, 2 K #12 - Cory Lewis (St. Paul) - 4.0 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, HBP, 5 K, 79 pitches, 49 strikes (62.0%) #13 - Tanner Schobel (Wichita) - 3-for-5, 2B(4), 2-HR(4), 2 R, 3 RBI #14 - Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-2, 2 BB, RBI, K, SB(12), (played CF) #18 - Carson McCusker (St. Paul) - 1-for-3, RBI FRIDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS St. Paul @ Columbus (DH @ 4:05 PM CST) - RHP Marco Raya (0-1, 8.00 ERA), RHP Darren McCaughan (1-0, 0.00 ERA) Wichita @ Frisco (7:05 PM CST) - LHP Connor Prielipp (0-1, 4.22 ERA). South Bend @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 PM CST) - RHP Tanner Hall (1-0, 4.50 ERA). Fort Myers @ Tampa (11:00 AM CST) - RHP Jakob Hall (1-0, 6.10 ERA) Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the roster, and discuss Thursday’s games, or anything else Twins minor-league related! View full article

Walker JenkinsLuke KeaschallEmmanuel RodriguezAndrew MorrisCharlee SotoMarco RayaBrandon WinokurDasan HillKaelen CulpepperConnor PrielippKyle DeBargeEduardo BeltreCory LewisBilly AmickYasser MercedesRayne DonconDaiber De Los SantosGabriel GonzalezRicardo OlivarTanner Schobel

Walker JenkinsLuke KeaschallEmmanuel RodriguezAndrew MorrisCharlee SotoMarco RayaBrandon WinokurDasan HillKaelen CulpepperConnor PrielippKyle DeBargeEduardo BeltreCory LewisBilly AmickYasser MercedesRayne DonconDaiber De Los SantosGabriel GonzalezRicardo OlivarTanner Schobel

We have a bunch of multi-hit games, some multi-stolen base games, and some big RBI games. Fort Myers and Cedar Rapids each got one a huge homer on their ways to win. St. Paul had to fight to get their win. Image courtesy of David Malamut (photo of Kaelen Culpepper following his 3-run home run on April 27 in Cedar Rapids) The Twins and all four of their affiliates played on Saturday Lots of good content for you below. But I also want to encourage you all to vote for your Top 20 Twins prospects. Your vote is important! It will help determine the updated Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects. CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 12-16 St. Paul Saints: 11-13 Wichita Wind Surge: 12-9 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 12-8 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 12-9 TRANSACTIONS Believe it or not, but the Twins made no official transactions before games played on Sunday. AWARDS Twins Minor League Players of the Week RHP Cole Peschl was named the Pitcher of the Week. He was the Twins 15th round pick last summer out of Campbell University. On Friday night, the 22-year-old started and tossed five scoreless innings and struck out nine batters. Wind Surge catcher Ricardo Olivar, 23, was named the Hitter of the Week. He played four games for Wichita and went 8-for-17 (.471) with two doubles, a homer and four RBI. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 5, Indianapolis 3 Box Score The Saints got ahead early and tried to give away the lead, but they added some late runs and held on for the win. The win was manager Toby Gardenhire's 300th win as manager of the Saints. Congratulations Toby! Zebby Matthews got the start and wasn’t quite himself but still gave his team a chance to win. In 4 2/3 innings, he gave up two runs on two hits. He had five strikeouts and a career-high four walks. Just 48 of his 84 pitches (57%) were strikes. Alex Speas came on with two runners on and allowed both to score before getting the final out of the fifth inning. Kyle Bischoff and Jacob Bosiokovic each pitched a scoreless inning. Anthony Misiewicz gave up a solo homer in the eighth inning. Kody Funderburk recorded his first Saints save of the year with a scoreless ninth. The Saints got the scoring going right away in the first inning. Ryan Fitzgerald walked, and then Royce Lewis singled him to second. Jeferson Morales had an infield single to load the bases. Carson McCusker followed with a two-run double. However, left with runners on second and third and nobody out, the Saints were unable to add on. In the second inning, Anthony Prato led off with a single. Diego Cartaya walked, and Fitzgerald singled to load the bases. Royce Lewis came up and just missed a grand slam. He flew out to the warning track for a sacrifice fly to make it 3-0 Saints. Again, the Saints left two more runners on base. Jump ahead to the seventh inning. Indianapolis had cut the Saints lead to 3-2. With one out, Lewis singled and advanced to second on a Morales single. However, McCusker struck out. Fortunately, Mike Ford came up big with a line-drive single to right to drive in Lewis and give the Saints a 4-2 lead. The extra run was great because Nick Solak led off the top of the eighth inning with a pinch-hit homer to cut the lead to 4-3. In the bottom of the eighth, Anthony Prato walked and stole second base. Ryan Fitzgerald doubled off the wall in center to drive in Prato with the fifth run. Lewis went 2-for-3 with two runs scored. He played third base for seven innings as well. Fitzgerald was 2-for-4 with a walk and his fifth double. McCusker was 2-for-4 with his sixth double. Prato was 2-for-3 with a walk. He stole two bases to double his season total. Morales was 2-for-5. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 4, Springfield 12 Box Score Wichita fell behind early, but then surged back to tie it. Then they fell behind again and nearly caught up, but it was all Cardinals in the second half of this game. Ricky Castro started and gave up three runs over his three innings. He gave up three hits, walked three, and had three strikeouts. Down 3-0 going into the bottom of the third inning, the Surge had a runner on first base and two outs. Then Kala’i Rosario singled, and Kyler Fedko walked to load the bases. Ben Ross remained patient and drove in a run with a walk. Rubel Cespedes followed with a two-run single that tied the game. John Klein came in and gave up four runs (3 earned) on four hits and two walks. He struck out three batters. John Stankiewicz gave up four runs on four hits in 1 1/3 innings. Jaylen Nowlin gave up one run on two hits over the final two innings. Andrew Cossetti led off the bottom of the fourth inning with a long, towering blast that landed beyond the berm in left field. At the time, it cut the deficit to 5-4, but that was it for the Wind Surge offense. Tanner Schobel went 3-for-5. Kala’i Rosario went 2-for-4 with a walk. Ben Ross was 1-for-2 with two walks. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 8, Wisconsin 1 Box Score Kaelen Culpepper was eased into the 2025 season due to hamstring issues he fought during spring training. He was playing shortstop for about six or seven innings and then came out of the game. Then he had a wrist injury and went on the 7-Day IL. But he returned from that pretty quickly. Since he came back from the IL, he has been a full-time player, and he is showing his skills at the plate and in the field. He played a big part in Sunday’s win. But let’s start with the pitching because the Kernels allowed just one run in the game. Jose Olivares started and struck out three batters in three scoreless, one-hit, no-walk innings. Jeremy Lee came on and worked the next three innings. He gave up one run on three hits and a walk. Wilker Reyes had two strikes over his two scoreless, hitless innings. Samuel Perez struck out two batters in a perfect ninth inning to shut the door. The Kernels took the first lead of the game in the bottom of the second when Danny De Andrade hit his first home run of the season. The Timber Rattlers tied it up in the top of the fifth inning on a Daniel Guilarte sacrifice fly. Note: This is where the Kaelen Culpepper Show starts getting going. With two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning, Kevin Maitan singled and Kyle Hess worked a walk. On a 1-1 pitch, Culpepper destroyed a pitch well beyond the wall in left center field. The three-run homer turned a tie-game into a three-run lead for the Kernels. If you like Win Probability, Culpepper’s blast increased the Kernels probability of winning by nearly 32%. In the bottom of the seventh inning, the Kernels added a little insurance. Maitan and Hess each singled again. This time, Culpepper walked to load the bases. Kyle DeBarge grounded out to the pitcher, but it was enough for Maitan to score and make it a 5-1 lead. By the way, if you missed it, but sure to read Jeff Johnson’s fantastic article on Kyle DeBarge. In high school, he was a catcher, and that’s what brought him to Lafayette, but he was just catching bullpens, the coaches had another idea, and it paid off. The Kernels added three more runs in the bottom of the eighth to make it 8-1. Gabriel Gonzalez singled to right. De Andrade walked. They successfully completed a double-steal. Khadim Diaw hit a sacrifice fly deep enough to drive in Gonzalez. Misael Urbina singled to advance De Andrade to third base. Maitan walked to load the bases. After a strikeout, Culpepper came to the plate. He lined a single to right field that drove in two more runs. (Of course, that only added 0.3% to the team’s win probability because it was pretty likely already.) The Kernels had nine hits and seven walks in the game. Culpepper led the way. He was 2-for-5 with a walk, his first homer, and five RBI. Kevin Maitan was 2-for-3 with a walk. Khadim Diaw went 1-for-1 with two walks. De Andrade had a walk and a stolen base to go with his homer as well. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers 10, Clearwater 1 Box Score Early offense is something every team dreams of, and the Mussels provided just that and then they added on. Byron Chourio led off the game with his first triple. Jose Salas singled him in. That brought Jay Thomason to the plate. The Air Force alum launched the first pitch he saw at a 32 degree angle at 108.3 mph, and it landed approximately 405 from home plate, beyond the established fencing in the outfield. It was his fifth home run of the month and gave the Mussels a 3-0 lead. It’s always helpful to follow a big inning with a quick half-inning on the defensive side. Lefty Michael Carpenter helped with that. He tossed 10 pitches in the bottom of the first inning and none of them left the infield. In the top of the second, the Mussels scored two more runs. The first scored on a wild pitch, and the second scored on a Jose Salas sacrifice fly to make it 5-0. Carpenter needed 20 pitches to get through the second inning. That is largely due to striking out two batters, but he also gave up a solo home run to Raider Tello. But as cliches tell us, solo homers don’t hurt, especially when you have a big lead. In the bottom of the third inning, Maddux Houghton hit an opposite-field single that drove in Miguel Briceno with the team’s sixth run. After an out, Byron Chourio walked to load the bases. On an 0-2 pitch, Jose Salas launched a ball at 103.9 mph and 32 degrees. It landed well beyond the fence in right-center field for a grand slam. The Mussels led 10-1. Honestly, that’s about it for the game. The Mussels added a couple of doubles, but had more 1-2-3 innings. Michael Carpenter completed three innings. He gave up one run on two hits. He had four strikeouts and did not issue a walk. 33 of his 52 pitches were strikes. Fellow lefty Zander Sechrist came on and threw three scoreless innings. He gave up one hit, walked two and struck out two batters. Knuckleballer Devin Kirby tossed three scoreless innings to earn his first save of the season. He gave up one hit, walked two, and recorded three strikeouts. Salas led the way. He went 2-for-3 with two runs and six RBI. The grand slam was his first home run of his rehab assignment. Poncho Ruiz went 2-for-5 with his second double. All nine starters had at least one hit. Byron Chourio hit his first triple and walked two more times. Thomason walked twice to go with his home run. PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day Jose Salas (Fort Myers): 2-for-3, HR(1), 2 R, 6 RBI, K Royce Lewis (St. Paul): 2-for-3, 2 R, RBI Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids): 2-for-4, BB, HR(1), 5 RBI, K. Pitcher of the Day Jose Olivares (Cedar Rapids): 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, 42 pitches, 25 strikes (59.5%) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our recently-updated Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Sunday. #7 - Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-4, BB, HR(1), R, 5 RBI, K (played SS) #8 - Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-4, K (played CF) #13 - Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-4, BB, RBI, SB(11) (played 2B) Great Defensive Play #1 and Play #2 #18 - Kala’i Rosario (Wichita) - 2-for-4, BB, R, 2 K #19 - Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-4, R, K, SB(1) #20 - Ricardo Olivar (Wichita) - 1-for-4, BB, R, K UPCOMING PROBABLE STARTERS MONDAY: Minnesota @ Cleveland (5:10 PM CST) - RHP Bailey Ober (2-1, 5.04 ERA) TUESDAY: St. Paul @ Columbus (DH @ 4:05 PM CST) - RHP David Festa, RHP Andrew Morris. Wichita @ Frisco (12:05 PM CST) - TBD. South Bend @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 PM CST) - TBD. Jupiter @ Fort Myers (5:05 PM CST) - TBD. Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the roster, and discuss Sunday’s games, or anything else Twins minor-league related! View full article

why should he play first base. Twins don't need a first baseman. They could use a right-handed bat though.

Like the Twins, Cedar Rapids and St. Paul played matinees. Unlike the Twins, the Kernels and Saints lost close games. See how they did. In the evening games, top left-handed pitching prospects Connor Prielipp (Wind Surge) and Dasan Hill (Mighty Mussels) took the mound for their team and were really impressive. Image courtesy of Rob Thompson (Patrick Winkel, with Jair Camargo happy for him) I want to encourage you all to vote for your Top 20 Twins prospects. Your vote is important! It will help determine the updated Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects. CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 11-16 St. Paul Saints: 10-13 Wichita Wind Surge: 12-8 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 11-8 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 11-9 TRANSACTIONS On Saturday morning, the Twins made official the transitions that we heard about on Friday night. First, Luke Keaschall is headed to the 10-Day Injured List with a non-displaced fracture in his wrist. He was hit by a running Kyle Hendricks’ pitch in Friday night’s win against the Angels. Needing a body on the roster, the Twins were able to complete a trade with the Phillies for recently-DFAd utility player Kody Clemens. The Twins will send a bit of cash to the Phillies. The Saints placed Yunior Severino on their 7-Day IL with a strained hamstring. Dalton Shuffield came off of the Injured List. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 5, Indianapolis 6 Box Score When talking about Hall of Famer Greg Maddux, analysts will often use the phrase, “you better get him in his first inning, or you aren’t going to get him.” Likely several of you, Twins fans, remember hearing the same thing about Brad Radke. In St. Paul today, the Saints were hurt twice by this logic. Lefty Aaron Rozek was on the mound to start. In total, he gave up three runs on six hits over the first four innings. However, all three runs scored in the first inning. Next, Travis Adams came in as the piggyback. In all, he was charged with three runs on two hits over his three innings. All three of his allowed runs came in his first inning, the fifth inning. Fortunately, relievers Brady Feigl and Richard Lovelady both threw scoreless, one-inning stints to close the game. In the bottom of the second inning, the Saints responded to their 0-3 deficit by scoring three runs of their own. With two outs, Jair Camargo started things with a single. Patrick Winkel hit his second home run of the season. Anthony Prato followed with his first home run of the season. Back-to-Back Husky Homers! In the fourth inning, the Saints took a short lead when a little roller by Camargo was hit in just the right spot to allow Carson McCusker to score from third base. Down 6-4 going to the bottom of the fifth, the Saints scored their fifth run on a infield single by Jeferson Morales that drove in Dalton Shuffield. St. Paul continued to have opportunities to tie the game again including the bottom of the ninth when Prato led off with a double, but they came up short. On the day, they were 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position and left six on base. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 7, Springfield 0 Box Score Connor Prielipp was fantastic on Saturday night. The Twins have a pretty strict plan on how he is used. It appears to be three innings or 50 pitches, whichever is first. On this night, Prielipp tossed three no-hit, scoreless innings. He had one walk and four strikeouts. He had his three ups-and-downs and only needed 34 pitches to complete them. Mike Paredes came on and matched Prielipp's three scoreless innings, though he gave up two hits and a walk. Michael Martinez tossed two scoreless innings with two strikeouts. He gave up one hit and walked two batters. The final three outs were recorded by Angel Macuare with a perfect ninth frame. It was a very nice performance for the Wind Surge pitchers. It was also a strong showing for the Wind Surge offense as they scored a touchdown and added the extra point. Wichita got things going right away in the bottom of the first inning. Tanner Schobel led off with a triple. With one out, Rubel Cespedes singled to center to score was would become the the game-winning RBI eight innings later. Following a Ben Ross walk, Kala'i Rosario doubled to drive in Cespedes and make it 2-0. Ricardo Olivar led off the bottom of the third frame with his second home run of the season. Ross and Rosario walked and advanced to second and third base. Noah Cardenas followed with his first home run of the season, a three-run blast to make it 6-0. The extra point came in the seventh inning. With two outs, Cardenas singled and moved to second on a passed ball. He scored on a Jake Rucker single to left. Cardenas led the offense going 2-for-4 with the big three-run homer. Cespedes went 2-for-4. Tyler Dearden had a single and walked twice. Ross walked twice and stole a base. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 2, Wisconsin 4 Box Score The Kernels got a really nice start from 2023 fourth-round pick Tanner Hall. The right-hander tossed five innings and was charged with only an unearned run. He gave up five hits, walked two and struck out three batters. In fact, the only run he gave up was on an errant pickoff throw in the top of the second inning. His offense got his back right away in the bottom of the inning. With two outs, Kyle Hess singled to advance Nate Baez to third base. Kaelen Culpepper drove in Baez with a single up the middle. Kyle DeBarge followed with a line-drive single to right field to score Hess and give the Kernels the lead. The score remained the same through five innings. Manager Brian Meyer turned to his bullpen ace Spencer Bengard. Unfortunately he allowed a run in the sixth inning to tie it up. He was still on the mound through the eighth inning when he gave up a long, solo home run to Hedbert Perez that gave the Timber Rattlers the 3-2 lead. Logan Whitaker pitched the ninth inning and gave up an unearned run as well. The Kernels had some opportunities. In the seventh inning, Wisconsin reliever Patricio Aquino hit three batters (Billy Amick, Khadim Diaw, Kevin Maitan) but were unable to score. They were 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position and left 12 runners on base. In addition, the defense committed four errors. Kyle Hess led the offense for the Kernels. The outfielder went 4-for-4 with his second and third doubles of the season. Brandon Winokur was 2-for-4 with a walk. He hit his fifth and sixth doubles. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers 5 , Clearwater 3 Box Score Dasan Hill just continues to dominate in his pro debut. Saturday night was no different. The lanky southpaw worked 3 1/3 scoreless innings. He gave up one hit, two walks and eight (8!) strikeouts. Jakob Hall came on and worked the next 3 2/3 innings. He gave up three runs (2 earned) on six hits and a walk. He had one strikeout. Kade Bragg worked a perfect eighth inning, and Ivran Romero recorded his second save with a perfect ninth including a strikeout. The Mussels, specifically Yohander Martinez, got on the board in the top of the third inning when he hit his first home run of the year. In the fourth inning, the first two Mussels' batters got out. Angel Del Rosario walked and then stole second and third base. Maddux Houghton walked and stole second base. Peyton Carr struck out, but both runners scored when the catcher threw errantly to first base. The Threshers scored one in the fifth inning. But the Mussels batters went back to work immediately in the sixth inning. With two outs, Del Rosario tripled and scored on a Houghton single. Carr then doubled to drive in Houghton with the fifth run. The Mussels had five hits and four walks. Yasser Mercedes, Angel Del Rosario, and Maddux Houghton all went 1-for-3 with a walk. Mercedes stole his 10th base. Del Rosario stole his eighth and ninth bases of the year. Dasan Hill threw 58 pitches and 35 were strikeouts. 31 of the pitches were sinkers. They averaged 96 mph with a max of 98.4 mph. He threw 14 sliders at an average of 82.4 mph. His seven changeups averaged 83.7 mph. He threw six slow curves that averaged 79.1 mph. He got nine Whiffs among his 58 pitches. However, three of the whiffs came on his seven changeups. Jakob Hall threw 50 pitches, and they fell into six different pitch types. His max velocity was a 93.8 mph. Kade Bragg only needed nine pitches to complete the eighth. His max velocity was 92.6 mph. Ivran Romero maxed out at 93.5 mph. PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day (??) Kyle Hess (Cedar Rapids): 4-for-4, R, 2-2B(3) Noah Cardenas (Wichita): 2-for-4, HR(1), 2 R, 3 RBI, Pitcher of the Day (??) Tanner Hall (Cedar Rapids): 5 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 83 pitches, 53 strikes (63.9%) Dasan Hill (Fort Myers): 3 1/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 8 K, 58 pitches, 35 strikes (60.3%) Connor Prielipp (Wichita): 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, BB, 4 K, 34 pitches, 23 strikes (67.6%) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our recently-updated Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Saturday. #7 - Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-4, BB, RBI, K (played SS) #8 - Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-4, BB, 2-2B(6), K, 2 E (played 3B) #10 - Connor Prielipp (Wichita) - 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, BB, 4 K, 34 pitches, 23 strikes (67.6%) #11 - Dasan Hill (Fort Myers) - 3 1/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 8 K, 58 pitches, 35 strikes (60.3%) #13 - Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-5, RBI, 2 K, SB(10) (played 2B) #15 - Yasser Mercedes (Fort Myers) - 1-for-3, BB, 2 K, SB(10). #17 - Billy Amick (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-3, BB, 2 K (played 1B) #18 - Kala’i Rosario (Wichita) - 1-for-3, BB, 2B(2), R, RBI #20 - Ricardo Olivar (Wichita) - 1-for-5, HR(2), R, RBI, 2 K SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Angels @ Minnesota (12:40 PM CST) - RHP Joe Ryan (1-2, 4.00 ERA) Indianapolis @ St. Paul (2:07 PM CST) - RHP Zebby Matthews (2-1, 1.80). Springfield @ Wichita (1:05 PM CST) - RHP Ricky Castro (0-1, 5.56 ERA) Wisconsin @ Cedar Rapids (1:05 PM CST) - RHP Jose Olivares (0-0, 0.00 ERA) Fort Myers @ Clearwater (11:00 AM CST) - LHP Michael Carpenter (0-0, 3.00 ERA) Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the roster, and discuss Saturday’s games, or anything else Twins minor-league related! View full article

Alcala has two options remaining, so they would have to DFA him to send him down.

I don't think he was, and obviously no one would say that. DeSclafani was about the money. Topa was about a present-day return. Gonzalez was the highest upside prospect. Bowen was a strong arm with potential to start.

From Tom's article, he was a 15th round pick from Campbell.

With Luke Keaschall likely out for an extended time frame, the Minnesota Twins were in need of players able to play. Late on Friday night, they made a trade to acquire utility man Kody Clemens. Image courtesy of © Brett Davis-Imagn Images One of the perceived strengths of the Twins coming into spring training was their depth. They have a lot of starting pitchers. Seven have made starts already this season, and we talk about how close other prospects can be. The bullpen does have some depth and they use the full 40-man roster for it. The depth on the position player side of the coin came from the fact that they have a lot of players with a lot of versatility. But when several of those versatile players are unavailable, well, the depth is in dire straits. Derek Falvey and Jeremy Zoll have been quite busy of late. For the second time in a week, the Minnesota Twins have made a trade to acquire a recently-DFAd player from an NL East team. A week ago, the Twins sent some cash to the Miami Marlins in exchange for infielder Jonah Bride. Following Friday night's game, the Twins made a trade with the Philadelphia Phillies to acquire infielder/outfielder Kody Clemens. The son of former All Star and multi-Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens has a total of 402 MLB plate appearances since he debuted in May of 2022 for the Tigers. He played in 56 gams and hit .197 (.505) with four doubles and five homers. He played first, second, and third base as well as left field. He also pitched. In January of 2023, he was sent from Detroit to the Phillies with reliever Gregory Soto for three players. He played in 47 games for Philly in 2023 and hit .230 (.655) with seven doubles and four homers. In 2024, he played in 43 games and hit .219/.258/.447 (.706) with nine doubles, a triple and five homers. In the 2024 playoffs, Clemens went 2-for-5 (.400) with a double. This season, he was 0-for-6 in seven games played. The Phillies Designated him for Assignment on Wednesday. He has played in 144 MLB games. He has made 53 starts at first base, 21 starts at third base, 10 starts at second base, and six starts in left field. Earlier I mentioned that he pitched a bit for the Tigers in 2022. The 2018 draft pick from Texas pitched in seven games in 2022. In 2023, he pitched four times. Last year, he pitched just once. In other words, Clemens can play around the field, particularly in the infield, something the Twins are desperate for right now. In his first plate appearance on Friday night, Twins rookie Luke Keaschall was hit on the wrist by a pitch. While it looked like it hurt, Keaschall went to first base and seemed OK. Until cameras showed him trying to put on his "oven mitt" for running the bases. That looked painful. When the time came for his next plate appearance, Mickey Gasper took the at-bat. Following the game, the team announced that Keaschall had an x-ray that showed a fractured arm, and it will keep him out for an extended period of time. The Keaschall injury is just another in a long line of lengthy injuries to top Twins prospects over the past couple of decades. On a positive note, Royce Lewis made his first rehab appearance on Friday night in St. Paul, but he will need more time after not playing in a game since hurting his hamstring in mid-March. After he was optioned a couple of weeks ago, Jose Miranda went on the Saints injured list thanks to a big case of water. Austin Martin began the season hitting well in St. Paul, but he hurt him hamstring tracking down a ball in the right centerfield gap. Willi Castro hurt his oblique and eventually had to be placed on the IL. Matt Wallner is likely to be out for awhile as well with his hamstring injury. The other player on the 40-man roster is Jair Camargo, who actually played some first base and third base for the Saints on Friday night due to Yunior Severino getting hurt, but that doesn't make sense. Emmanuel Rodriguez is on the 40-man roster, but he was out of the Saints lineup on Friday night with a thumb injury. The Twins were able to outright Diego Cartaya from the 40-man roster earlier on Friday, so Clemens' addition will not need a corresponding move on the 40-man roster. Keaschall will certainly go on the 10-Day IL. Not need to place him on the 60-Day Injured List at this point. A quick look at the Twins current roster (after this trade becomes official and an IL spot goes to Keaschall) presents a far different roster than the Twins were planning to have a month into the season. C: Ryan Jeffers, Christian Vazquez IF: Ty France, Edouard Julien, Carlos Correa, Brooks Lee, Mickey Gasper, Kody Clemens, Jonah Bride OF: Harrison Bader, Byron Buxton, Trevor Larnach, DaShawn Keirsey, Jr. MLB Injured List: UT Willi Castro, 2B/DH Luke Keaschall, 3B Royce Lewis, OF Matt Wallner Also on 40-Man Roster (Healthy): C Jair Camargo Also on 40-Man Roster (Not Healthy): Austin Martin, Jose Miranda, Emmanuel Rodriguez) Assuming Royce Lewis's rehab goes well, maybe he joins the big-league club on the road in about a week. But we really don't have any timelines yet on Willi Castro, Matt Wallner, or now Keaschall. We also haven't heard updates on how Miranda and Martin are rehabbing. And Rodriguez has struggled the last two years with hand/thumb injuries, that we don't know how close he could be to a call up. So, the Twins won for the third time in the four games they have played at home this week. They have two more games against the Angels. They are now 10-16. Next week, they play four games in Cleveland against the Guardians before heading to Fenway for three games against the Red Sox. I guess I wouldn't go out and buy "Bride" or "Clemens" jerseys right now. Both players are out of options, and unless they quickly become cult heroes for on-field performances and big hits in the very near future (which would be GREAT), they are likely not long for the roster. These are the moves that make the most sense in responding to this very situation. They just need to be patient and get these players back. View full article

@Brock Beauchamp- can you take Brent Headrick off the list? He's dominating in the Yankees bullpen now. I came down to my 20th spot and was trying to decide between Tanner Schobel, Danny De Andrade, Khadim Diaw, Dylan Questad and Tanner Hall.

Normally I would say that Salas is only likely to be in FM for a little while, but honestly, it might not be a bad thing for him to spend a few months in Fort Myers. Yeah, Ethan is in Double-A... His brother Andrew who just signed with the Marlins in January, is already playing in the Florida State League too. Might be good to let Salas play down there.

Sometimes it just takes one bad inning to cost a team a win. Sometimes, it just takes one at-bat. Image courtesy of William Parmeter (photos of Maddux Houghton, Jay Thomason (shaking Seth Feldman's hand)) We've got transactions. We've got major milestones. We've got high-scoring games. We have a rain out that is giving us an tremendous, exciting pitching matchup on Friday. There were big home runs and big innings. Check out everything that happened in the Twins minor league system on Thursday. CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 9-16 St. Paul Saints: 9-11 Wichita Wind Surge: 10-8 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 11-6 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 10-8 TRANSACTIONS The Twins played a Thursday afternoon game at Target Field. Before the game, they announced that Willi Castro was placed on the Injured List with his oblique injury. The Twins recalled Mickey Gasper who played well in his week with the Saints. They also announced that David Festa has been optioned to St. Paul and a corresponding move will be made before their Friday home game against the Angels. Unless something strange happens, that move will be activating Pablo Lopez so he can start on Friday for the Twins. We also learned on Thursday afternoon that Royce Lewis will begin his rehab assignment with the Saints starting on Friday. MILESTONES Earlier this month, Saints broadcaster Sean Aronson called his 2,000th game for the Saints. On Friday night, Wichita Wind Surge broadcaster Tim Grubbs will be calling his 4,000th career minor-league game. His broadcast career began in 1995 with the Hickory Crawdads. From 1996-1998, he called games for the Winston-Salem Warthogs. He was with the Knoxville Smokies from 1999-2001. He joined the New Orleans Zephyrs in 2002 and called their games through the 2019 season. That’s when the franchise moved to Wichita and Grubb moved with it. Of course, the 2020 season was lost, and with minor-league realignment, he’s been calling Double-A games for the Wichita Wind Surge since 2021. In this team’s press notes, they pointed out that he called one MLB innings with the Astros in 2004. However, he will “officially make his MLB debut with the Minnesota Twins later this season. He will broadcast six games for the Twins on the road at Cleveland and Detroit.” SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul, Indianapolis (Postponed) Box Score For the sixth time already this season, the Saints have had their scheduled game postponed. Because of that, finding time to make up this game will not be easy. These teams played a doubleheader on Wednesday. They are already scheduled for a doubleheader on Friday. The Saints also play a doubleheader on Tuesday in Columbus. Indianapolis doesn’t come back to St. Paul after Sunday. So, sometime the week of June 10th, they will play a doubleheader in Indianapolis. If you are looking for something to do on Friday night, a trip to CHS Field would be a fun event. Game 1 starts at 5:00 and pits a couple of top pitching prospects against each other. The Saints will start Marco Raya while Indianapolis will start Pirates top pitching prospect Bubba Chandler. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 0, Springfield 4 Box Score Springfield’s starter, Tekoah Roby, was a consensus Top 100 prospect coming into the 2024 season. He was limited to just 10 starts last year and struggled when he moved up to Double-A. Coming into this game, he had a 1.50 ERA and a 0.97 WHIP in 12 innings. He had 14 strikeouts to go with three walks. On this night, he worked five scoreless innings with just two hits allowed. The Surge worked him for three walks and limited themselves to just two strikeouts against him. For the Surge, Trent Baker was on the mound to start against his former team for the second time already this season. Baker worked five innings, but he was charged with four runs (3 earned) on eight hits. Not a great line, but after giving up four runs over the first three innings, he was still able to work two more innings of productive ball for his team. With two outs in the top of the sixth inning, Ben Ross walked. Rubel Cespedes hit a high pop-up in the Bermuda Triangle of pop-ups. It dropped in between the center fielder, shortstop and second baseman. The speedy Ross was running the whole way. Cespedes was credited with a double thanks to the hustle of Ross. Jarret Whorff came on in relief and gave up only an unearned run over three innings. He gave up two hits, walked one and had four strikeouts. Cody Laweryson tossed a perfect ninth inning. Down 5-1 in the ninth, the Surge attempted a comeback. Kyler Fedko led off with a single, and Noah Cardenas walked. Aaron Sabato struck out. Tyler Dearden flew out to the warning track for the second out. After a pitching change, Tanner Schobel singled in a run to make it 5-2. Ricardo Olivar struck out, but he reached on a wild pitch to load the bases. Ben Ross grounded to short and was thrown out by a half-step. Rubel Cespedes led the offense. He went 2-for-3 with a walk and his RBI double. Kyler Fedko was 2-for-4. Noah Cardenas was 1-for-2 with two walks and a double. The team was 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position and left 10 on base. Tanner Schobel has reached base in 17 consecutive games. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 5, Wisconsin 13 Box Score The Kernels got off to a nice start in this game, taking an early lead. Gabriel Gonzalez led off the bottom of the second innings with a single to left. Khadim Diaw was hit by a pitch and Danny De Andrade walked to load the bases. Nate Baez followed with a two-run single. After a double play, Caden Kendle hit an infield single. Kaelen Culpepper singled to left to add another run. Chase Chaney began the season with the Wind Surge, but as the Wichita rotation has had a few starters return from IL stints, Chaney will now be making starts for the Kernels. He threw scoreless innings in the first, second, fourth and fifth innings. Unfortunately, in the third inning, catcher Matthew Wood launched a grand slam that put the Rattlers ahead 4-3 at the time. Chaney gave up four runs on five hits and a walk. He also had five strikeouts. Samuel Perez came in and tossed two scoreless innings to keep the game at 4-4. And then things got ugly. Gabriel Yanez gave up two runs on three hits and a walk in one inning. Juan Mendez came in for the ninth inning trying to keep the game at 6-4. He gave up six runs on four hits and a walk and a hit batter. Juan Mercedes came on with the bases loaded and one out. He allowed all three inherited runners to score. He gave up a hit and walked three batters before getting the third out. He was charged with just one run. Looking for a positive, Mercedes K/9 for this outing was 27.0. The Kernels didn’t give up and put another run on the board in the bottom of the ninth, but that was it. Danny De Andrade led the offense. He went 2-for-3 with a walk and a double. Billy Amick went 2-for-4 with a walk. Kalen Culpepper and Gabriel Gonzalez both went 2-for-5. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers 3, Clearwater Box Score Jason Doktorczyk got the nod from manager Seth Feldman in this game. He knew he’d have to be solid since he was facing Phillies top pitching prospect Andrew Painter, a top ten global prospect. Painter tossed three scoreless innings as he continues to work his way back from Tommy John surgery. Doktorczyk was certainly up to the challenge. The 2024 draft pick gave up only an unearned run on two hits and a walk in four innings. He had two strikeouts. In the top of the sixth inning, Byron Chourio led off with a single. With one out, Yasser Mercedes doubled to drive in Chourio and tie the game 1-1. Jay Thomason led off the top of the seventh inning with his fourth home run of the season. The 2024 draft pick from the Air Force launched another ball at 106.5 mph at a towering 40 degrees and landing 412 feet from home plate. He gave the Mussels a 2-1 lead. Jacob Kisting came on to start the fifth inning. He had four strikeouts over 2 1/3 scoreless innings. He gave up two hits and had two walks. Kade Bragg came on with a runner on base but immediately fielded a grounder, turned and threw to second base to start an inning-ending double play. However, he gave up a game-tying run in the eighth frame. Devin Kirby worked a scoreless ninth inning to send the game to extra-innings. Yohander Martinez came in as the Manfred Man to start the top of the 10th. Angel Del Rosario reached on an error and advanced to second base on defensive indifference. With one out, Maddux Houghton stepped to the plate and launched a three-run homer to give the Mussels a 5-2 lead. In the bottom of the 10th, Kirby allowed the Manfred Man to score, but that was it. The Mussels had just seven hits. No one had more than one hit. Jose Salas was 1-for-2 and played center field in his second rehab game. He’s 2-for-5 with both hits being doubles. Houghton pinch hit for Salas. Mercedes’ double was his fourth of the season. Jose Rodriguez added his third double. The Mussels were just 1-for-14 with runners in scoring position. They left just seven runners on base. PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day Maddux Houghton (Fort Myers): 1-for-3, HR(1), R, 3 RBI (3-run homer in 10th inning) Pitcher of the Day Jason Doktorczyk (Fort Myers): 4 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 HBP, 2 K, 66 pitches, 42 strikes (63.6%) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our recently-updated Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Thursday. #3 - Luke Keaschall (Minnesota) - 1-for-2, BB (DH) #7 - Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-5, RBI #13 - Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-4, BB, 2 K (CF) #15 - Yasser Mercedes (Fort Myers) - 0-for-4, K #17 - Billy Amick (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-4, BB, R, RBI #18 - Kala’i Rosario (Wichita) - 0-for-4 #19 - Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-5, R #20 - Ricardo Olivar (Wichita) - 0-for-5, 2 K FRIDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Angels @ Minnesota (6:40 PM CST) - RHP Pablo Lopez (1-1, 1.62 ERA) Indianapolis @ St. Paul (DH at 5:00 PM CST) - RHP Marco Raya (0-0, 1.23) and Darren McCaughan (0-0, 0.00 ERA). Springfield @ Wichita (6:35 PM CST) - RHP Darren Bowen (2-0, 1.38 ERA) Wisconsin @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 PM CST) - RHP Alejandro Hidalgo (0-0, 6.55 ERA) Fort Myers @ Clearwater (5:30 PM CST) - RHP Cole Peschl (1-0, 0.00 ERA) Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the roster, and discuss Thursday’s games, or anything else Twins minor-league related! View full article