Seth Stohs

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

Find out everything that happened in the Minnesota Twins Minor League system on Thursday including a transaction that should have Twins fans really excited. With all due respect to Maroon 5. And Keaschall be loved. And Keaschall be loved. And Keaschall be loved. And Keaschall be loved. Image courtesy of William Parmeter (photo of Eli Jones) All four Minnesota Twins minor-league affiliates ended up on the losing side of the coin on Thursday, but hey, the Twins didn't lose. And there are always positives to be found in the games. A quick glance at the hitter and pitcher of the day and there are two really impressive performances on the night. There were several other multi-hit games, and a 2024 pick with a monster home run for the second straight day. And, there are a couple of typical minor-league transactions, but clearly the news from the minor leagues on Thursday was the promotion of one of the top 50 prospects in baseball, from the St. Paul Saints to the Minnesota Twins. I don't want to give anything away here in the introduction. You'll have to read through the full minor league report!! Enjoy! CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 7-12 St. Paul Saints: 6-9 Wichita Wind Surge: 6-6 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 7-5 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 6-6 TRANSACTIONS The Wichita Wind Surge transferred RHP Kyle Jones from the 7-Day IL to the 60-Day IL. That is it for the official transactions in the minor leagues. The Twins made one official move on Thursday. They officially announced the acquisition of infielder Jonah Bride from the Marlins. To add him to the 26-man roster, Matt Wallner was placed on the 10-day IL. Now, in unofficial moves, news broke on Thursday afternoon that Twins Daily’s #3 Twins Prospect Luke Keaschall will be joining the Twins in Atlanta where they play a weekend series against the Braves. He becomes the second member of the 2024 Opening Day Cedar Rapids Kernels roster to get The Call to the big leagues. Zebby Matthews flew through the minor leagues and ended the season in the big leagues. Now Keaschall, a second round pick in 2023, will be making his debut. Of course, Keaschall also had Tommy John surgery in mid-August, but he’s off to a solid start at Triple-A St. Paul and the Twins have needs. He has played 14 games for the Saints and played even as DH and seven at second base. He is hitting .261/.379/.348 (.727) with a double and a homer so far this season. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 2, Iowa 6 Box Score A one-run game became a five-run game on a Chase Strumpf grand slam in the eighth inning. Marco Raya was back on the mound for the Saints in Des Moines on Thursday afternoon. In his 48-pitch allotment, Raya was able to complete three scoreless innings. He gave up four hits and a walk, and he also had three strikeouts. In the top of the first inning, he received a bit of run support. Ryan Fitzgerald led off with a single. With one out, he moved to third base on a single by Emmanuel Rodriguez. Armando Alvarez was given a free RBI and he took advantage of it. With the infield back, he grounded out to second base to give the Saints a 1-0 lead. Jacob Bosiokovic came on and gave up a two-run homer in the fourth inning. He had three strikeouts over his two innings. Alex Speas worked a scoreless sixth inning, and Richard Lovelady struck out three batters in a scoreless seventh frame. Then came the bottom of the eighth. Kyle Bischoff came on to replace Lovelady. A single, stolen base, walk and hit batter loaded the bases. On a 2-2 pitch, a 96.1 mph fastball was launched by Chase Strumpf at 34 degrees and 100.9 mph toward straight-away center field and landed beyond the fence. A one-run nail-biter became a five-run lead with just three outs remaining. With two outs in the ninth, Mike Ford hit his second homer of the season, but it was too little too late. The Saints had just six hits and two walks in the game. They were 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position and left seven on base. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 3, Tulsa 5 Box Score Trent Baker made the start for Wichita and began with three scoreless innings. In the fourth, he gave up a two-run homer. He was also charged with two unearned runs in the fifth inning. Michael Paredes came in with a runner on base and two outs. The inherited runner scored first so Baker’s line included giving up four runs (2 earned) on five hits and a walk. He also had seven strikeouts. Paredes finished the game, saving the Surge bullpen arms for another day. He gave up only an unearned run on three hits and a walk over the final 3 1/3 innings. He had four strikeouts. Down 4-0 going to the sixth inning, the Surge attempted a comeback. Ricardo Olivar led off the inning with a walk. Ben Ross reached on an error. Kala’i Rosario grounded out but the runners advanced to second and third. That brought Kyler Fedko es and three homers. He also has eight walks to go with six strikeouts. The deficit was down to just one run, and it was as close as they got. Fedko led the way. He had three of the Wind Surge’s five hits and all three RBI. Ben Ross had the other two hits. Olivar and Andrew Cossetti each walked twice. Congratulations to former Twins prospect Evan Sisk who has made his MLB debut with the Kansas City Royals. The Twins acquired him in the J.A. Happ deal from St. Louis. A couple years ago, Sisk and fellow Royals bullpen mate Steven Cruz were the two players traded to the Royals when the Twins acquired Michael A. Taylor before the 2023 season. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 3, Peoria 9 Box Score Charlee Soto was back on the mound, and he just wasn’t quite as sharp has he had been in his first couple of starts this season. He kept the game close for a while, but Peoria added on in the middle innings. Soto left two runners stranded in a scoreless first inning. In the second inning, the first two batters reached base, but he got the next three and kept it scoreless. In the third inning, a couple of singles put runners on second and third with one out. A slow grounder to shortstop was turned into an out at first base, but the first run scored. That was it. In the fourth inning, Soto gave up a leadoff double. A groundout moved him to third base, and a wild pitch allowed the second run of the game. A single was followed by a strikeout. But in a really scary moment, Soto hit Zach Levenson in the helmet with a fastball. Levenson didn’t move, didn’t look like it hurt, went down to first base and played the remainder of the game which is great news. Soto responded by striking out another batter to end the inning. As much fun as seeing dominance can be, watching Soto work into trouble all four innings and find a way to limit the damage was also very encouraging. He was charged with two runs on six hits, a walk and two hit batters in four innings. He had four strikeouts. He was also already at 80 pitches through four innings. Samuel Perez came in and gave up four runs on three hits and two walks. He had two strikeouts. Juan Mercedes got four outs and was charged with three runs on two hits and two walks. Juan Mendez came on and got the final five outs. He gave up just one hit. The Kernels were held scoreless through the game’s first six innings. Their starter only got five outs, though he had three walks and hit a batter. #OldFriend Ricardo Velez came into the game for Peoria. He had just signed with the Cardinals and joined the Chiefs on Friday. He worked 2 2/3 scoreless innings. The Kernels scored three runs in the seventh inning. Danny De Andrade reached on an error. Khadim Diaw walked. Nate Baez lined a single to left to load the bases. The next two batters struck out. But Kyle DeBarge came up big and cleared the bases with his third double of the season. DeBarge drove in the ninth-inning run as well with a single. He had half of the Kernels four hits and all four of their RBI in the game. Billy Amick had a single and a walk. Nate Baez singled and walked twice. Kyle Hess walked twice. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers 3, Bradenton 6 Box Score A pitchers’ duel early, the Mussels grabbed an early lead. But messy defense, some hit batters, and a little bad luck and the Mussels fell back to .500. Eli Jones was the Twins’ seventh round pick in 2024 out of the University of South Carolina. It was his third start and easily the best so far. The right-hander tossed five innings over one-hit, one-walk, one-hit batter, scoreless baseball. He struck out six batters. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Jay Thomason led off with a single. Daniel Pena followed with a double to drive in Thomason with the game’s first run. After two outs, Yohander Martinez singled to drive in Pena with the second run. Hunter Hoopes came on to start the sixth inning for the Mussels. He gave up three runs on five hits and a walk and recorded just two outs. Tyler Stasiowski came on with the bases loaded and got the third out without any more damage. He also pitched the seventh inning and gave up a run. He recorded four outs, all on strikeouts. Devin Kirby worked the final two innings. He gave up two runs (1 earned) on one hit, one walk, and two hit batters. The third Mussels run came on a home run that nearly duplicated his homer from the day before. 40 degree angle and 111 mph exit velocity. Thomason was 2-for-3 with a walk and his second home run. Daniel Pena went 2-for-4. Byron Chourio was 2-for-3, was hit by a pitch, and stole his fourth base. PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day Kyler Fedko (Wichita): 3-for-5, HR(3), R, 3 RBI Pitcher of the Day Eli Jones (Fort Myers): 5 IP, H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K, 80 pitches, 47 strikes (58.8%) 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. #2 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - 1-for-4, K #3 - Luke Keaschall (Minnesota) - Called Up to the Big Leagues. #4 - Charlee Soto (Cedar Rapids) - 4 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 2 HBP, WP, 80 pitches, 47 strikes (58.8%) #6 - Marco Raya (St. Paul) - 3 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 B, 3 K, 48 pitches, 33 strikes (68.8%) #8 - Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-5, K #13 - Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-5, 2B(3), 4 RBI. #15 - Yasser Mercedes (Fort Myers) - 0-for-4, K #17 - Billy Amick (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-3, BB, 2 K #18 - Kala’i Rosario (Wichita) - 0-for-4, K #19 - Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-4, K #20 - Ricardo Olivar (Wichita) - 0-for-2, 2 BB, R FRIDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Minnesota @ Atlanta (6:15 PM CST) - RHP Chris Paddack (0-2, 9.49 ERA) St. Paul @ Iowa (7:08 PM CST) - RHP Randy Dobnak (0-0, 4.50 ERA) Wichita @ Tulsa (7:00 PM CST) - LHP Aaron Rozek (1-1, 4.82 ERA) Cedar Rapids @ Peoria (7:05 PM CST) - RHP Alejandro Hidalgo (0-0, 5.63 ERA) Bradenton @ Fort Myers (6:05 PM CST) - RHP Jason Doktorczyk (2-0, 2.70 ERA) Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the roster, and discuss Thursday’s games, or anything else Twins minor-league related! 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While teams and players need to remember that a baseball season is a marathon and not a sprint, they also have to remember that player development is not linear and often takes years. Image courtesy of Jean Pfiefer (Go4twinkies on Instagram) - photos of Gabriel Gonzalez, Danny DeAndrade The minor-league season is less than three weeks old. It is far too early to make any grand decisions about a player or prospect at this point. The prospects are just passing 50 plate appearances. If things go well, they are going to get 500-550 plate appearances. So, to make more of 8-10% of a season’s at-bat is foolish. So, why would I write this article? Well, first, because it’s all we have to write about at this point. I think it’s fair to acknowledge that coming into the season there are players who would benefit from getting off to a fast start. Fans who follow prospects know it. National sites that follow prospects know it. If you gave a Player Development director some truth serum, they would acknowledge that there are players for which a fast start is more important than others even if the reality is that they will be patient with most of them. Why might it be more important for some guys to get off to faster starts? I might argue that a player who is repeating a level needs to come out quickly. Injury might be a reason that a player would want to get off to a fast start, and it might be a primary reason for returning to the same level. It could simply before overall performance, or the organization may have asked a player to work on certain aspects of their game and development. Below you will find the names of six Twins prospects who, for various reasons I felt needed to have a fast start. Three of them have been able to start well, and three of them who will want to remind themselves that it is a long season and the organization is not going to be giving up on them any time soon. Three Up Tanner Schobel (23) – 3B, Wichita Wind Surge In 2022, Schobel had a huge junior season at Virginia Tech. He hit .362/.445/.689 (1.134) with 18 doubles and 19 homers. The Twins selected him with their second-round pick. He signed quickly and played 28 games in Fort Myers that season. He began the 2023 season in Cedar Rapids, but after posting an OPS of 859 in 77 games, he moved up to Double-A Wichita and ended the year with a .634 in 49 games. At this point, he found himself inside the Top 10 Twins prospects rankings. As expected, he began the 2024 season in Wichita, and he never really got going. In 122 games, he his .211/.301/.339 (.639) with 20 doubles and 10 homers. So, it was no surprise at all that he returned to Double-A this season. He also fell out of Top 20 Twins prospect rankings. I don’t know if he ever lost any confidence, but a fast start for him in 2025 would be beneficial. In his first 11 games of the 2025 season, Schobel hit .310/.400/.500 (.900) with two doubles and two home runs. And yes, those numbers include his 1-for-7, 14-inning game on Tuesday night. Through 10 games, he was hitting .343/.442/.571 (1.013) which is a good reminder of how quickly statistics can change this early in the season. And again, I stress that it is early and that these stats can change quickly as well. In his pro career, his walk rate is about 11% This season, it is at 16% Maybe more important, he struck out in nearly 24% of his plate appearances in 2024. So far this season, he is striking out just under 12% of the time. Previously, he struck out approximately 18-19% of the time. Gabriel Gonzalez (21) – OF, Cedar Rapids Kernels Just before spring training 2024, the Twins traded Jorge Polanco to the Seattle Mariners in exchange for RHPs Anthony Desclafani, Justin Topa, Darren Bowen, and outfielder Gabriel Gonzalez. Desclafani missed the entire season. Topa hurt his knee and only pitched in three games for the Twins, all on the final weekend of the season. Bowen pitched in Cedar Rapids and that’s where the Twins sent Gonzalez. Coming into the season, Gonzalez was ranked #79 prospect by MLB Pipeline. In 2023, he hit .348 (.933) in 73 games in Low A and then moved up to High-A Everett where he hit .216 (.677) as a 19-year-old. We ended up ranking Gonzalez in the Top 10. The Twins sent him to Cedar Rapids where he played in 76 games and hit .255/.327/.379 (.706) with 19 doubles and just four home runs. These are solid numbers, but the burly outfielder lack of home run power surprised a bit. But, he also missed a couple of months of the season with a back injury which certainly would have affected his swing. He fell to #19 on the Twins Daily prospect rankings coming into this season. No surprise that Gonzalez was sent back to Cedar Rapids to start the season. He is still about a year and a half younger than league average. In the first Kernels game, he batted eighth. However, he had a good first game and has since moved back to the middle of the lineup. In 11 games, he is hitting .326/.408/.512 (.920) with five doubles and a home run. In his minor-league career, he has typically struck out twice as much as he has walked. So far this season, he has five walks and four strikeouts. Now, he’s only got one home run, but he has really been hitting the ball hard, and he’s been showing power to the opposite field. Hopefully he can remain healthy and keep working on his offense. Frankly, that will allow him to keep working on his defense (which has a long ways to go!). Dylan Questad (20) – RHP, Fort Myers Mighty Mussels Questad was the Twins fifth-round draft pick in 223 out of Waterford High School in Wisconsin. He had committed to the University of Arkansas, but the Twins were able to sign him. Like most Twins pitcher draft picks, he didn’t pitch in any games that summer. But there were reports that he was touching 95 with his fastball, and he had always been known for his ability to spin the ball. While he never quite fit into the Twins Daily Top 20 prospects, he was just outside of it coming into the 2024 season. Questad began the season at Extended Spring Training and then pitched for the FCL Twins. And, frankly, if you just look at the numbers, it didn’t go as well as anyone would have wanted. In 12 games (9 starts), he went 2-4 with a 10.48 ERA. He had 39 strikeouts but also 29 walks in 28 1/3 innings. He also gave up 35 hits. That’s a 2.26 WHIP. Certainly, a case could have been made to send him back to the FCL for another season. But that’s where it is important to remember that he was developing, growing, learning and working on thing during the FCL season, but then at “Instructs” and again at pitching camps. He went to Fort Myers very early. The work and the learning continued, and based on his start to this 2025 season, it has begun to pay off. In his season debut for the Mighty Mussels against the Tampa Tarpons (Yankees), he tossed five shutout innings. He gave up just one hit and one walk, and he had eight strikeouts. Definitely an encouraging start. He pitched on Tuesday night against Bradenton. The Twins had Christian MacLeod, Pierson Ohl and Brock Stewart throw the first six innings on rehab assignments. Questad came in to start the seventh inning of a 1-0 game. He proceeded to throw three scoreless, no-hit innings and was credited with the Save. He walked two and had four strikeouts. Eight scoreless, one-hit innings with three walks and 12 strikeouts is pretty good on its own, but he looks the part on the mound. He throws a fastball between 91 and 95 (average 93.4). He has a sharp slider between 83 and 86 mph (average 84.0). He also has a slow curveball that sits 75 to 77 mph (average 75.9). He also throws some changeups in the low-80s, approximately 9 mph slower than the fastball. While I have watched probably six of his eight innings online, Statcast shows that he’s got a slider and a cutter. On average the cutter is 2 mph faster with less break. A 20-year-old starting pitcher prospect who hits 95 with the fastball and has as many as five pitches with potential. That’s exciting. The Twins saw the progress, but regardless of where he began this season, a good start was important just for him to believe in himself and to experience actual success on the mound. Three Down Kala’i Rosario (22) – OF, Wichita Wind Surge Rosario was the Twins fifth-round draft pick in the abbreviated 2020 MLB draft out of high school in Hawaii. Fellow 2020 prep pick Marco Raya was added to the Twins 40-man roster in November. While there was some speculation, Rosario was not added to the 40-man roster. There was concern that the slugger could be selected. In 2023, he had led the Midwest League in home runs and RBI and was named league MVP. He went to the Arizona Fall League and led the league in home runs. He moved up to Double-A Wichita in 2024. In 67 games, he hit .235/.321/.405 (.726) with 19 doubles and eight home runs. The numbers were obviously down since he missed about half of the season due to a fractured elbow. He was able to return and did show some power. He went to the AFL again. Fortunately, for the Twins, Rosario went unselected in the Rule 5 draft and remains in the organization. But due to the injury and lost time, it’s no surprise that he was sent back to Wichita to start this season. Even this year, he is over two years younger than the league average. Wichita played 14 innings on Tuesday night. Rosario went 2-for-6 to raise his slash line to .132/.171/.211 (.382) with one home run. A slow start is a slow start and in general there isn’t reason to be too worried about a rough nine or 10 games. However, in his 10 games, he has 41 plate appearances and already has 21 strikeouts (51%). His strikeout rate in Double-A last year was 30.4%, very similar to his K-Rate in previous seasons. Obviously, it is pretty clear that Rosario will need to put the ball in play more consistently. He’s still so young. He’ll keep working, and patience will be very important. Danny De Andrade (21) – IF, Cedar Rapids Kernels Just over one year ago, De Andrade was the primary shortstop for the Kernels. He was about to turn 20. He was batting second or third in the team’s lineup. He hit a ground ball and hustled down the line in an attempt to beat the throw. When he got to the base, his ankle twisted and he was in pain. It was something he hadn’t experienced before. A few days later, he returned to the Kernels lineup but he had another ankle injury in mid-May which proved to be much more serious. In fact, he didn’t play again the rest of the season. In his 29 games, he hit .243/.333/.359 (.693) with six doubles and two homers. Again, not bad numbers. He struck out just about 17% of the time. No real concerns. Healthy again, De Andrade is back in Cedar Rapids. He just turned 21 years old a week ago. He is one of eight or nine other Top 30 Twins prospects on the current Kernels roster. While shortstop was his last year at this time, this year, Kaelen Culpepper, Brandon Winokur and Kyle DeBarge have played shortstop too. De Andrade has made three starts each at second base, third base and DH. He hasn’t yet played shortstop. On Tuesday night, he went 0-for-4 with two walks. Through 11 games, he is hitting .189/.302/.270 (.572) with three doubles. He has a good approach at the plate. He’s playing good defense. The organization knows what he can do, so he is in no danger. I’m just sure that after missing so much time last year, he would have loved to start out hot this spring. He has been a borderline Top 10 Twins prospect at times, and right now finds himself just outside of the Top 20, likely due to missing time. Jose Rodriguez (19) – OF, Fort Myers Mighty Mussels Rodriguez entered the scene when he signed with the team in January of 2022. He spent that summer in the DSL. In 55 games, he hit .289/.361/.605 (.966) with 15 doubles and 13 home runs. He put himself into Top 20 Twins prospect rankings with that performance, specifically the home runs. He came to the States in 2023 and played in the FCL. He was solid, very good when you compare him to most players that come to the States and play in the FCL for the first time. He hit .262 (.737) with 10 doubles and six homers. Good enough that he began the 2024 season with the full-season Mussels. In 43 games, he hit .178/.235/.319 (.554) with eight doubles and five home runs. And, as you can see, he missed a lot of time due to injury. Still 19, of course he returned to the Florida State League, and certainly he would want to get off to a fast start. On Tuesday night, he played left field and went 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts. In his 10 games, he is hitting .132/.175/.289 (.464) with a double, triple and homer. He is incredibly aggressive at the plate. His walk rate has dropped from 9.6% in the DSL in 2022 to 8.6% to 6.7%, and this season, it is currently 2.8% this season. In addition, his strikeout rate in the two Complex leagues was 24% and 20%. It has been over 36% in his time with the Mussels. Rodriguez is a big man who takes a big swing and has tremendous power potential. He actually is a solid athlete with decent speed considering how big he is. The Twins need to remain patient, and the same can be said for Rodriguez. Hopefully at some point soon the game will slow down a bit for him, the quality of plate appearance improves, and he starts getting better counts. Disclaimer: Just another reminder that 10 games is far too small of a sample size to make too much out of it. Ten games from now, it’s possible that this could be a completely different list. Let me know what you think. Feel free to ask questions. View full article

No, it wasn't... I just realized what happened. As several noted, this was difficult to edit. I tried a couple of times...then what I eventually did was copied the copy and put it into another document. Then I did all the editing there. The intent would be to then put the updates back into the site, clean it up/format and then publish. I just realized a few minutes ago, that I didn't plug my edited version back into the site. I did it very early this morning. Not an excuse, but I'm not a morning person. So, now the article has been updated AND edited. The fault here is mine, not Sherry's. My apologies all!

For the Saints? Yes. For the Twins? In an emergency.

Yeah, I miss that sometimes. I try to remember to add the name of the player for most minor leaguers.