Seth Stohs

For the second straight week, DaShawn Keirsey put up huge numbers for the Saints. Carson McCusker and Jeferson Morales had very good weeks. The DSL Twins' season came to an end. Image courtesy of Rob Thompson, St. Paul Saints TRANSACTIONS: LHP Samuel Perez has been promoted to Cedar Rapids from Fort Myers. RHP Mike Paredes is heading back to Wichita from Cedar Rapids. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE CONTENT Minor League Report (8/25): Y'all Got Any Runs? Why Aren't the Minnesota Twins Giving DaShawn Keirsey Jr. a Chance? Twins Minor League Report (8/24): Andrew Morris, Christian MacLeod Toss Quality Starts Again Twins Minor League Report (8/23): Walker Jenkins Hits First High-A Homer Who Has the Best Tools Among the Twins' Top Position Player Prospects? The Twins Have Two Red-Hot, High-Ceiling Prospects Turning the Corner at Fort Myers Twins Minor League Report (8/22): DaShawn Keirsey Continues to Make his Case, Jeferson Morales Does It All for Wichita Is it Time for Twins to Move Louie Varland to the Bullpen? Twins Minor League Report (8/21): Jake Rucker, Carson McCusker Provide Power Surge Twins Minor League Report (8/20): Cory Lewis Dominates, DSL Season Comes to an End Could Emmanuel Rodriguez Become the Top Prospect in Baseball? WEEK IN REVIEW Triple-A: St. Paul Saints Overall: 59-66, Tied for 7th place in the IL West. 2nd Half: 21-30, Ninth place in IL West. Last Week: 3-3 hosting Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Hobie Harris and Ryan Jensen each pitched twice and threw three scoreless relief innings. Andrew Morris provided a Quality Start (6 IP, 3 ER). After a rough start on Tuesday, lefty Aaron Rozek faced the same team on Sunday. In that game, he gave up one run on just two hits over six innings. DaShawn Keirsey played in five games last week. He went 9-for-18 and hit .500/.545/1.056 (1.601) with two triples, two homers and eight RBI. He also walked twice, and he was 4-for-4 in stolen base attempts. For his efforts, he was named the International League Player of the Week. Diego A. Castillo played in all six games. He went 9-for-25, hitting .360/.429/.560 (.989) with two doubles, a home run, and eight RBI. Payton Eeles played in all six games. He hit .348/.400/.565 (.965) with three doubles and a triple. What’s Next: The Saints will head to Omaha to take on the Royals’ Triple-A affiliate this week. They will return to CHS Field for a rare Monday game. They will play the Iowa Cubs on Labor Day. Double-A: Wichita Wind Surge Overall: 51-69. Fifth place in the Texas League North 2nd Half: 20-31. Fifth place in Texas League North. Last Week: 2-4, at Midland. Three of the games were one-run games. Travis Adams had one of the best starts of the season, maybe even of his professional career to this point. He gave up just one hit and one walk over six scoreless innings. He also had 10 strikeouts. Christian MacLeod was strong again this week. He gave up only an unearned run on two hits in six innings. He walked three, but he also struck out eight batters. Cory Lewis made two starts, and while neither was a quality start, he gave up just three runs on nine hits in 9 1/3 innings. He walked four and struck out 13 batters. Kyle Bischoff (3 2/3 IP) and Taylor Floyd (3 1/3 IP) each pitched twice without allowing a run. They each gave up just one hit. Carson McCusker and Jeferson Morales each had strong performances in their four Surge games last week. Morales hit .438/.500/.688 (1.188) with a double and a home run. McCusker hit .278/.316/.944 (1.260) with four home runs and seven RBI. On Saturday morning, we learned that the two outfielders were promoted to Triple-A St. Paul. The both played on Saturday and Sunday. Morales had three hits in eight at-bats. McCusker was 2-for-7 with a walk. Jake Rucker has quietly filled up the stat lines all season. In four games last week, he hit .294 (1.000) with a double, two homers and six RBI. And that was a really great game! Jorel Ortega played in five games. He hit .400/.526/.467 (.993) with a double. He also had four walks. What’s Next: The Wind Surge return home to take on Springfield, the Double-A affiliate of the Cardinals. High-A: Cedar Rapids Kernels Overall: 62-56 Second place in the Midwest League West 2nd Half: 25-29: Tied for Fourth place in the MWL West Division (6.5 GB) Last Week: Went 1-5 in Dayton, the High-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. Rafael Marcano, a left-hander acquired in the minor-league Rule 5 draft in December, made two appearances last week. Over four scoreless innings, he gave up two hits, walked one and had six strikeouts. Connor Prielipp continues to ease his way back into more action and more work, but wisely the organization is going to be cautious with him this season. In his start this week, he gave up one hit and hit one batter over three scoreless innings. He had four strikeouts. Tanner Hall went 5 1/3 innings in his start. He gave up two runs on two hits. He walked three and had four strikeouts. Walker Jenkins led the Kernels last week with a .953 OPS. In six games, he went 8-for-25, hitting .320/.393/.560 (.953) with three doubles and a home run. He also drove in six runs. Rubel Cespedes went 9-for-25 and hit .360/.407/.520 (.927) with a double and a home run. Nate Baez played in five games. He hit .333 with a double and a big extra-innings home run. Gabriel Gonzalez hit .280 with three doubles, a homer and five RBI. What’s Next: The Kernels will stay out east and play a series at Lake County. They will return home on September 3rd (the day after Labor Day) for their final series of the season. They’ll be taking on Cooper Pratt and the Wisconsin TimberRattlers. Low-A: Fort Myers Mighty Mussels Overall: 63-52. Second place in Florida State League West 2nd half: 32-18, First place in FSL West (4 game lead over Lakeland) Last Week: The Mussels split their six-game series in Tampa against the Yankees, er, Tarpons. It was a week of close games (three, one-run games, two, two-run games) and some crazy comebacks. Sam Perez has been in the organization, and specifically with the Mussels, for a few years now. He tops out at 86, 87 mph. He just often gets the job done. In Perez’s 5 2/3 scoreless innings, he gave up no hits, no walks, and he struck out nine batters. The only blemish was one hit batter. He is heading up to Cedar Rapids this week. Jay Thomason was the Twins 17th round pick out of the Air Force. In six games, he hit .286/.412/.714 (1.126) with two home runs and three walks. Khadim Diaw played in four games. The Twins third-round pick from Loyola Marymount went 8-for-17 and hit .471/.500/.529 (1.029) with a double. He had two stolen bases and has played first base, center field, right field along with catching a few games. Jaime Ferrer, the Twins fourth-round pick from Florida State, played in all six games. He went 7-for-19, hitting .368/.500/.421 (.921) with a double. He was 3-for-3 in stolen base attempts. Second-round pick, Billy Amick from Tennessee, went just 3-for-18. He hit .167, but thanks to six walks, he posted a .385 OBP, and his two homers helped him to a .500 Slugging Percentage. Derek Bender, the sixth-round pick from Coastal Carolina, hit a single, two doubles and a home run. What’s Next: The Mussels will head home to take on the Clearwater Thrashers. Dominican Summer League: DSL Twins Overall: 30-25: Fourth place in Dominican Summer League South Anderson Ramos struck out six batters over four scoreless innings in a relief appearance. He gave up three hits and walked none. Melvin Rodriguez made a start and tossed four scoreless innings. It may be more impressive because he gave up base runners. He gave up three hits, walked two and hit two batters. He had four strikeouts. Rodriguez, 18, signed in January. He really ended the year strong. In his final four starts, he gave up just two earned runs in 18 2/3 innings. Aiberson Ventura struck out four batters over two scoreless relief innings. He gave up one hit and walked none. It was only two games, but Daiber De Los Santos went 8-for-10 with a double. He went 5-for-5 in the season’s final game on Tuesday. Eduardo Beltre had an Eduardo Beltre final week in his two games. He went 3-for-9 with an OPS of 1.178, a double, a homer and four RBI. PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our Twins Top 20 prospects. And, be sure to note the new, updated Top 20 rankings. #1– Walker Jenkins (Cedar Rapids) – 6 G, 8-for-25, .320/.393/.560 (.953), 3-2B, 1-HR, 5 R, 6 RBI, 3 BB, 5 K. #2 – Brooks Lee (Minnesota) – 2 rehab games in St. Paul, 4-for-8, .500/.500/1.125 (1.625), 2-2B, 1-HR, 1 R, 3 RBI, 0 BB, 0 K #5 – Zebby Matthews (Minnesota) – 2 GS, 0-1, 2.70 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, .205 BAA, 10.0 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 8 K. #6 - David Festa (Minnesota) - 1 GS, 0-1, 7.36 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, .214 BAA, 3.2 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 K. #7 – Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids) – 6 G, 7-for-25, .280/.333/.520 (.853), 3-2B, 1-HR, 3 R, 5 RBI, 1 BB, 5 K. #8 – Charlee Soto (Fort Myers) – 1 GS, 0-1, 6.75 ERA, 2.00 WHIP, .389 BAA, 4.0 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 6 K. #9 - Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids) - 6 G, 5-for-21, .238/.304/.286 (.590), 1-2B, 4 R, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 4 K. #10 - Marco Raya (Wichita) - 1 GS, 0-1, 6.75 ERA, 1.75 WHIP, .294 BAA, 4.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 3 K. #11 - Andrew Morris (St. Paul) - 1 GS, 0-0, 4.50 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, .261 BAA, 6.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 4 K. #12 – Brandon Winokur (Fort Myers) – 6 G, 7-for-26, .269/.296/.462 (.758), 3-2B, 1-3B, 6 R, 4 RBI, 1 BB, 11 K, 2 SB. #13 – Cory Lewis (Wichita) – 2 GS, 0-2, 2.89 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, .265 BAA, 9.1 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 4 BB, 13 K. #16 - Kyle DeBarge (Fort Myers) - 6 G, 5-for-23, .217/.333/.304 (.637), 1-3B, 4 R, 5 RBI, 3 BB, 8 K, 4 SB #17 - Tanner Schobel (Wichita) - 6 G, 0-for-24, .000/.172/.000 (.172), 0-2B, 2 R, 0 RBI, 5 BB, 8 K. #19 - C.J. Culpepper (Wichita) - 1 GS, 0-0, 13.50 ERA, 2.25 WHIP, .200 BAA, 2.2 IP, 2 H, 4 R, 4 BB, 2 K. #20 – Connor Prielipp (Cedar Rapids) – 1 GS, 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 0.33 WHIP, .111 BAA, 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K. Players of the Week Hitter of the Week - DaShawn Keirsey (Saints) 5 games, 9-for-18, .500/.545/1.056 (1.601), 2-3B, 2-HR, 6 R, 8 RBI, 2 BB, 2 K, 4-for-4 SB Pitcher of the Week - RHP Travis Adams (Wind Surge) 1 GS, 6.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 10 K View full article

The pitching pipeline looked good in the minor leagues on Saturday. The three starting pitchers at the top three levels of the system are all part of that pipeline and did well on Saturday. We've got extra-innings, rain delays, several transactions, a doubleheader, and more. Image courtesy of William Parmeter (photo of Jaime Ferrer) Check out the tweets included within each team's section showing who the youngest players were at each level. It's always a fun look at which players are well younger than the average age. CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 72-57 St. Paul Saints: 59-65 Wichita Wind Surge: 51-68 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 62-55 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 62-52 FCL Twins: 27-31 (season complete) DSL Twins: 30-25 (season complete) TRANSACTIONS The Twins DFAd lefty Steven Okert on Saturday morning and purchased the contract of Scott Blewett. St. Paul announced that outfielders Carson McCusker and Jeferson Morales were promoted from Wichita to the Saints. C/1B Alex Isola was assigned to the Wind Surge. In addition, outfielder Wynton Bernard was released by the Saints. Brooks Lee joined Alex Kirilloff on rehab assignment with the Saints. Although it was later announced that Kirilloff was removed from the rehab assignment. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 3, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 6 Box Score The Saints got on the board in the bottom of the first. Diego A. Castillo doubled, and Brooks Lee followed with a home run to make it 2-0. Andrew Morris is the youngest player on the Saints roster, but he put together another Quality Start. The 22-year-old gave up three runs on six hits and a walk over six innings. He had four strikeouts. He gave up a single run in the third inning, but in the fifth inning, he gave up a two-run homer to Oscar Gonzalez that put the team down 3-2. Josh Winder came on and threw two scoreless innings. He gave up just one hit and struck out two batters. In the bottom of the seventh inning, Jeferson Morales doubled for his first Triple-A hit. Payton Eeles later switched spots with him to tie the game at 3-3. Jeff Brigham was brought in for the ninth inning. He gave up three runs on two hits and a walk. The big hit was a three-run homer off the bat of Caleb Durbin. Eeles went 2-for-4 with his seventh and eighth doubles. Morales had two hits in four at-bats. Carson McCusker went 1-for-3 in his first Triple-A game. Diego A. Castillo went 2-for-5 with his 20th double. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 1, Midland 1 (10 innings) Box Score For the third time in the series' first five games, it took extra innings to decide the winner. Christian MacLeod was fantastic yet again for the Wind Surge. He gave up an unearned run on two hits. In six innings, he walked three and struck out eight innings. And, he got some help from his catcher Andrew Cossetti. Kyle Bischoff struck out three batters over two perfect innings. Taylor Floyd then gave up one hit over two scoreless innings including the 10th inning. Impressive because there was a 30-minute delay in the bottom of the ninth inning. In the top of the eighth inning, Wichita got on the scoreboard. Noah Cardenas hit his fifth home run to tie the score at 1-1. In the top of the 10th inning, Kyler Fedko started at second base. Ben Ross bunted him over to third base. Jorel Ortega followed with an RBI double. Ortega went 2-for-3 with a walk and his 11th double. He had two of the team’s four hits. He also stole his 10th base. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 7, Dayton 4 (10 innings) Box Score There were several interesting things that came out of this game. The starting pitcher for the Kernels was lefty Connor Prielipp, and he looked really impressive. In three scoreless innings, he gave up just one hit. He walked none, hit one, and had four strikeouts. The Kernels got on the scoreboard in the top of the fourth. Gabriel Gonzalez led off with a walk. Rubel Cespedes followed with a single. A Nate Baez single loaded the bases. Rixon Wingrove drove in two runs with a single. Poncho Ruiz doubled to score Baez and make it 3-0. After a walk loaded the bases, with two outs, Kaelen Culpepper dropped a single into left field to score the fourth run of the inning. Jeremy Lee took over on the mound for the Kernels in the fourth inning. He gave up four runs (3 earned) on six hits (2 homers) over 3 1/3 innings. He walked none and had two strikeouts. Gabriel Yanez came into the game with a runner on, and that runner scored. He got five outs, two on strikeouts.He gave up one hit, was charged with no runs and walked two batters. Mike Paredes came on and tossed a scoreless bottom of the ninth inning. Culpepper started the top of the 10th inning on second base. Walker Jenkins led off with his eighth double. After two outs, Nate Baez drilled his 11th home run to make it 7-4. Paredes came out and threw a scoreless bottom of the 10th as well. The Kernels had 10 hits and four walks. Baez went 2-for-5. Wingrove went 2-for-5. Jenkins hit a double and walked once. MUSSEL MATTERS Game 1: Fort Myers 7, Tampa 8 Box Score After a rare scheduled Friday night off, the Mussels played two games at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa. The Mussels bat didn’t miss a beat in Game 1. They scored at least once in each of the first five innings. Let’s summarize: Top of 1st: Kyle DeBarge walked and stole second. He scored on a Brandon Winokur double. Billy Amick walked and Jaime Ferrer was hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out. Jose Rodriguez flew out to left to drive in Winokur with the second run. 2-0. Top of the 2nd: With one out, Byron Chourio walked and DeBarge was hit by a pitch. With two outs, the two runners advanced on a balk. Amick walked to load the bases, and then Chourio scored another balk. 3-0. Top of the 3rd: Jaime Ferrer singled and stole second. After a pitching change, Rodriguez walked. Both runners advanced 90 feet on a wild pitch. Derek Bender reached on catcher’s interference to load the bases. With two outs, DeBarge singled to drive in two more runs. 5-0. Top of the 4th: With one out, Khadim Diaw struck out, but went to first base on a wild pitch. He stole second and scored on a Ferrer single. 6-0. Top of the 5th: Derek Bender hit his second career home run. 7-0. Jose Olivares started the game with four shutout innings. He gave up a single and a double to give up the first run. Paulshawn Pasqualotto came on and gave up a hit and two walks which allowed an inherited runner to score. In total, Olivares gave up two runs on five hits and a walk in 4.0+ innings. He had two strikeouts. Unfortunately, Pasqualotto was only able to get one out in the sixth inning. He gave up a walk, an RBI single, and a two-run homer before he came out. Pasqualotto gave up three runs on three hits and three walks in 1 1/3 innings. Wilker Reyes came in and after getting the second out, he gave up a single, a single, and a two-run double which tied the game at 7-7. The Mussels went scoreless in both the top of the sixth and top of the seventh innings. In the seventh, the Mussels had runners on second and third with one out but were unable to reclaim the lead. Reyes returned for the bottom of the seventh inning. He struck out the first two batters, but then gave up a line-drive single. The runner stole second base. Roderick Arias followed with a double to score the winning run. Fort Myers had seven hits and seven walks. They were twice hit by a pitch. Once on base, they aggressively stole six bases. Jaime Ferrer led the way. He went 3-for-3 and was hit by a pitch. He stole his fourth base. Kyle DeBarge went 1-for-3 with a walk. He was also hit by a pitch and stole his 12th base. Along with his second home run, Derek Bender also walked. Among the stolen bases, Byron Chourio reached 20. So did Angel Del Rosario who pinch ran in the seventh inning and stole two bases. Game 2: Fort Myers 7, Tampa 6 (8 innings) Box Score Adrian Bohorquez was on the mound to start this game. He gave up one run on two hits and a walk over 1 1/3 innings. He had three strikeouts. Unfortunately, with a lengthy rain delay, his day was complete. Sam Perez came on in relief. He went 2 2/3 perfect innings and had six strikeouts. The Mussels got on the scoreboard in the top of the fourth inning. Brandon Winokur led off with his 16th double. Billy Amick walked. Next, Jaime Ferrer singled to load the bases. Daniel Pena, quietly one of the youngest players on the roster, came through with a big, grand slam to give the Mussels a 4-1 lead. Tampa scored two unearned runs in the fifth inning off of Cleiber Maldonado. The teams exchanged runs in the sixth inning. The Mussels got their run on Jay Thomason’s second home run. Jack Noble came on and worked two innings. He gave up two runs on three hits and three walks, and yes, he had three strikeouts. Tampa tied it at 5-5 with a run in the bottom of the seventh inning. The Mussels reclaimed the lead in the top of the eighth inning. Winokur started the inning on second base. Amick walked again. Ferrer flew out to center, deep enough for Winokur to advance to third base. With one out, Tampa’s catcher tried to pick off Winokur at third but threw the ball away. Winokur scored from third base and Amick, who was off with the pitch, raced all the way around to score a second run. Tomas Cleto came on for the bottom of the eighth inning. He gave up an unearned run but easily recorded his first save of the season. Pena went 2-for-4 with his third home run and four RBI. Thomason went 2-for-4 with his second pro home run. Billy Amick walked three times. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day – Christian MacLeod (Wichita) - 6 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 8 K, 85 pitches, 48 strikes (56.5%). Hitter of the Day – Jaime Ferrer (Fort Myers) - Game 1: 3-for-3, HBP, R, RBI. Game 2: 1-for-4, K. 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. #1– Walker Jenkins (Cedar Rapids) – 1-for-4, BB, 2B(8), R, RBI. #2 – Brooks Lee (Minnesota) – Rehab St. Paul: 1-for-4, HR(8), R, 2 RBI (DH, bat 2nd) #7 – Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids) – 1-for-4, BB, R, K. #9 - Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-5, R, RBI, K. 2 E. #11 - Andrew Morris (St. Paul) - 6 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 86 pitches, 61 strikes (70.9%) #12 – Brandon Winokur (Fort Myers) – Game 1: 1-for-5, 2B(15), R, RBI, 2 K. Game 2: 1-for-4, 2B(16), 2 R, 2 K. #16 - Kyle DeBarge (Fort Myers) - Game 1: 1-for-3, BB, R, 2 RBI, 2 K, SB(12). Game 2: 0-for-4, K #17 - Tanner Schobel (Wichita) – 0-for-5, 2 K. #20 – Connor Prielipp (Cedar Rapids) – 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 HBP, 4 K. 30 pitches, 24 strikes (80%) SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Scranton/Wilkes Barre @ St. Paul (2:07 PM CST) – LHP Aaron Rozek (9-6, 7.67 ERA) Wichita @ Midland (1:00 PM CST) – RHP Cory Lewis (1-2, 2.98 ERA) Cedar Rapids @ Dayton (12:05 PM CST) – RHP Darren Bowen (2-8, 5.81 ERA) Ft. Myers @ Tampa (11:00 AM CST) – LHP Ross Dunn (1-4, 5.50 ERA) Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Saturday’s games! View full article

Why would Rodriguez play in St. Paul in September. I mean, f he plays, that might be the only option. Just depends on if he can squeeze a bat or catch a ball without it hurting. Rosario fractured elbow. Not sure how long the recovery is on that. Both are so young. No problem with them getting healthy and going back to Wichita to start next year. The Twins aren't exactly in need of outfielders right now.

DaShawn Keirsey continues to fill out a box score in a big way, showing he deserves an opportunity in the big leagues whether it's with the Twins or elsewhere. Jeferson Morales came up big at the plate and with the defensive play of the day in helping the Wind Surge to an extra-inning win. The Twins top picks from the past two drafts are both in Cedar Rapids and scored some big runs in the Kernels comeback attempt. Image courtesy of Rob Thompson (photos of DaShawn Keirsey, Jr.) Just three games, but a ton of action in the Twins minor leagues on Wednesday night. CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 71-56 St. Paul Saints: 58-64 Wichita Wind Surge: 50-67 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 61-54 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 61-51 FCL Twins: 27-31 (season complete) DSL Twins: 30-25 (season complete) TRANSACTIONS RHP Jacob King was removed from the IL and assigned to the FCL Twins from the Mighty Mussels. Wichita placed RHP Miguel Rodriguez on the 7-Day Injured List and activated RHP Cody Laweryson from the Development List. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 8, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 7 Box Score Last night, the Saints ended their 10-game losing streak. On Thursday night, they won their second straight one-run game. It didn’t look great early when Scranton put up four runs in the top of the first inning. But the Saints came back with two in the bottom half of the inning. Caleb Boushley made the start for the Saints. He gave up five runs in the first two innings. Overall, he went 5 2/3 innings and gave up six runs on eight hits and four walks. He struck out three batters. Zack Weiss came on and allowed an inherited runner to score. He gave up three hits in 1 1/3 innings. He had two strikeouts. Giovanny Gallegos gave up a hit and issued a walk in a scoreless eighth inning. Scott Blewett gave up a ninth-inning run on two hits but earned his first Save of the season. After the rough top of the first inning, it was nice for the Saints to grab two runs in the bottom of the first. With one out, Diego A. Castillo walked. DaShawn Keirsey followed with his 14th home run of the season. (Keirsey also stole his 30th base of the season.) In the bottom of the fourth inning, Jair Camargo led off with his 10th homer of the season. Castillo walked to lead off the bottom of the fifth inning. Keirsey followed with a single. Yunior Severino then launched his 19th homer of the season to turn a two-run deficit into a one-run lead, 6-5. The RailRiders tied the game in the top of the sixth inning. With two outs in the bottom of the sixth, Payton Eeles singled and stole second base. Castillo drove him in with a single to center to put the Saints back ahead, 7-6. The bottom of the seventh inning started with a Keirsey triple, his sixth. With one out, Michael Helman drove him in with a sacrifice fly to make it 8-6. Scranton had runners on second and third with one out in the eighth and didn’t score. They scored one in the ninth on a pair of doubles, and a hit batter put two runners on, but Blewett got a strikeout to end the game. DaShawn Keirsey went 4-for-4 with two singles, his sixth triple, his 14th home run, and his 30th stolen bases. The speedy center fielder just continues to fill out a box score and a stat line fully. Diego A. Castillo went 1-for-2 with two walks. Anthony Prato had a single and a walk. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 4, Midland 3 (11 innings) Box Score A night after being walked off in the 11th inning, the Wind Surge played another 11 innings. This time, they left the field with a one-run win. If you’re going to play a game in 103 degree-weather, you might as well get a win! The game was scoreless until the top of the fourth when the Surge got on the board first. Jeferson Morales hit his ninth home run of the season. Morales led off the top of the sixth inning with a single. Carson McCusker drove him in with his 14th home run of the season to give the Surge a 3-0 lead. Travis Adams was absolutely brilliant in this game. The starter worked the first six innings. He gave up no runs on one hit. He had just one walk, hit two batters, and struck out 10 batters. It is the second time in his pro career that he has reached double digit strikeouts. On August 23, 2022, he tossed five innings for the Kernels and had 11 strikeouts with just one walk. Mason Fox came in for the seventh inning and gave up two runs on three hits. John Stankiewicz gave up the tying run on three hits in his two innings. The game was tied 3-3 going to extra innings. Both teams went scoreless in the 10th inning. The 11th inning began with Morales on second base. Two outs later, he was still standing in the same spot. A wild pitch moved him to third base, and Andrew Cossetti came through with the big two-out RBI single to make it 4-3. Ricardo Velez worked both extra frames. In the 10th inning, he threw two wild pitches and somehow got three outs without giving up a run. In the 11th, a fielding error put runners on first and third with nobody out. However, a line drive to left was caught by Morales, the former catcher, who came up with a strong, accurate throw home to get the second out and maintain the lead. It was a huge play because it was followed by a single. But Velez got a strikeout to end the game and earn his first Double-A win. Morales played hero in the field and went 3-for-5 with his ninth home run and three runs scored. McCusker went 2-for-4 with a walk and his 14th homer. Dalton Shuffield went 2-for-5 and stole his fifth base. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 4, Dayton 5 Box Score Ty Langenberg pitched a scoreless first inning for the Kernels on Thursday night. He then had to do a bit of work. He gave up one run in each of the next four innings. But overall, he gave up four runs on seven hits (2 solo homers) in five innings. He had five strikeouts without issuing a walk. The Kernels on the other hand were kept scoreless through five innings, but they got on the board in the top of the sixth inning. Misael Urbina led off with a walk. Agustin Ruiz singled to right. He and Urbina each moved up an extra base on an error. Two outs later, they were still standing in scoring position. Walker Jenkins came up and drilled a hard single to right, off the first baseman’s glove, that drove in both runs. Rafael Marcano came in and struck out three batters over two scoreless, one-hit innings. In the top of the eighth inning, Kaelen Culpepper reached on a one-out single. Jenkins followed with a single. After a pitching change, Gabriel Gonzalez’s 17th double drove in the Twins two most-recent top draft picks and tied the game at 4-4. Nolan Santos came in for the eighth inning and gave up two hits but no runs. The Kernels went scoreless in the top of the ninth. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Santos issued a walk. A sacrifice bunt advanced the runner to second, and a wild pitch moved him to third. Hector Rodriguez followed with a single, and the Kernels lost another one-run game. Cedar Rapids had just six hits, and Walker Jenkins had two of them. Gonzalez had the lone extra base hits. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers, Tampa (Rained Out) Box Score Fort Myers game in Tampa was canceled due to bad weather. It will not be made up. They had an already-scheduled day off on Friday and a doubleheader on Saturday. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day – Travis Adams (Wichita) - 6 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 HBP, 10 K, 91 pitches, 62 strikes (68.1%). Hitter of the Day – DaShawn Keirsey (St. Paul) - 4-for-4, 3B(6), HR(14), 3 R, 2 RBI, SB(30). 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. #1– Walker Jenkins (Cedar Rapids) – 2-for-4, R, 2 RBI, K. #7 – Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids) – 1-for-4, 2B(17), 2 RBI, 2 K. #9 - Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-4, R. #17 - Tanner Schobel (Wichita) – 0-for-5, K. FRIDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Scranton/Wilkes Barre @ St. Paul (7:07 PM CST) – RHP Randy Dobnak (9-6, 3.56 ERA) Wichita @ Midland (7:00 PM CST) – RHP Marco Raya (1-3, 4.76 ERA) Cedar Rapids @ Dayton (6:05 PM CST) – RHP John Klein (8-2, 4.41 ERA) Ft. Myers @ Tampa – No Game Friday, Doubleheader on Saturday. Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Thursday’s games! View full article

Haven't heard anything yet, but most likely it's just precautionary.

Two Wind Surge hitters knocked two homers on Wednesday. Two Twins affiliates had to play some extra innings. Several firsts for some 2024 draft picks. Check out all that happened throughout the Twins minor league system on Wednesday. Image courtesy of Ed Bailey (photo of Jake Rucker, Carson McCusker) Two extra-inning games. Two 2024 draft picks hit their first pro home run during the Mussels doubleheader. Another 2024 draft pick recorded his first double in High-A. The Wind Surge were powered by two hitters who each hit two home runs. Pitching wasn't real strong on Wednesday, but there was certainly some hitting. CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 71-56 St. Paul Saints: 57-64 Wichita Wind Surge: 49-67 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 61-53 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 61-51 FCL Twins: 27-31 (season complete) DSL Twins: 30-25 (season complete) TRANSACTIONS In a rarity, there were no transactions in the Twins minor league system on Wednesday. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 7, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 6 (10 innings) Box Score The Saints got on the scoreboard first, but over the first six innings, they fell behind 6-1. However, the Saints got a big blast in the seventh and another run in the eighth frame to tie the score at 6-6. See how it ended below. Were the Saints able to end their 10-game losing streak? The Saints took the lead in the top of the first inning. Payton Eeles led off with his sixth double. Saints manager Toby Gardenhire was ejected from the game. Originally, Eeles shot was called a home run, but after the umpires met, they changed it to a ground-rule double. Diego A. Castillo singled him to third base. Castillo stole second. Eeles scored on a sacrifice fly by DaShawn Keirsey. However, Castillo was thrown out trying to advance to third base. Louie Varland started for the Saints and went five innings. He gave up four runs on six hits and two walks. He had three strikeouts. Josh Winder gave up two runs on three hits and a walk in the sixth inning. At that point, the Saints were down 6-1. In the bottom of the seventh inning, Patrick Winkel led off with a double. Anthony Prato reached on an error. A pitching change was made. #OldFriend Nick Burdi came out and Oddanier Mosqueda came into the game. Eeles walked to load the bases. Castillo made it a game again by launching a grand slam to cut the deficit to 6-5. In the bottom of the eighth, Rylan Bannon pinch hit and led off with a single off the pitcher. Bannon went to second base on a bunt by Prato and a ground out by Eeles. Castillo came up, but he struck out. However, he reached first base, and Bannon scored, when strike three resulted in a passed ball. The game was tied 6-6. Hobie Harris worked two scoreless innings. Caleb Baragar pitched a scoreless ninth inning and a scoreless 10th inning. The Saints started the bottom of the 10th inning with Jair Camargo at second base. Chris Williams successfully advanced him to third base with a bunt. Bannon was intentionally walked before Prato came up and laced a single to right to drive in the winning run. Diego A. Castillo went 2-for-4 with a walk and his seventh home run of the season. He also stole his 11th base. Prato went 2-for-4. Winkel went 2-for-3 with his 15th and 16th doubles. Eeles went 2-for-4 with a walk. (if you missed our interview with him from Monday, click here.) WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 10, Midland 11 (11 innings) Box Score This game was very back-and-forth. Wichita had three, three-run innings. Midland had two, three-run innings, but also a two-run inning, and three, one-run innings including in the bottom of the 11th inning as they got the walk-off win over the Surge. Midland took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. In the top of the third inning, the Surge tied it up. With one out, Dalton Shuffield walked and stole his fourth base. He moved up to third base on a Jorel Ortega single. Tanner Schobel walked to load the bases. Jake Rucker unloaded them with a bases-clearing double. Then Midland scored two in the bottom of the third inning and another in the fourth. Down by three runs again, Wichita responded in the top of the fifth inning. With one out, Schobel walked. Jake Rucker emptied the bases again with a two-run homer. With two outs, Carson McCusker’s 12th home run of the season tied the score at 6-6. Then it was time for Wichita to surge into the lead. In the top of the seventh inning, the Surge took a three-run lead. With one out, and no one on base, Jake Rucker just went ahead and drove in himself with his second home run of the night. Andrew Cossetti followed with a single, and McCusker knocked his second home run of the night. That gave the Wind Surge a 9-6 lead. C.J. Culpepper made his second Double-A start. He gave up four runs on two hits and four walks over 2 2/3 innings. He struck out two batters. Regi Grace got the next four outs. He was charged with two runs on three hits. Pierson Ohl came on and tossed three scoreless innings. However, in the eighth inning, he was charged with three runs (2 earned) which made it a 9-9 game after eight innings Taylor Floyd got the final out of the eighth inning and pitched a scoreless ninth frame to send it to extra innings. In the top of the 10th, Ben Ross was the Manfred Man on second base. Jeferson Morales walked, and then Aaron Sabato walked to load the bases. With one out, Shuffield flew out to center, deep enough for Ross to coach. Ortega walked to re-load the bases. Jarret Whorff came in for the 10th inning and immediately threw a wild pitch to advance a runner to third. A double scored him, and an infield single put runners on first and third with nobody out. Somehow, Whorff got out of it with a ground out, a strikeout and a fly out. The Surge went 1-2-3 in the top of the 11th inning. Brennan Milone doubled to lead off the bottom of the 11th inning to score Jack Winkler and end the game. Rucker led the offense going 3-for-6 with his 20th double, his eighth and ninth home runs, and six RBI. McCusker hit his 12th and 13th home runs. Cossetti went 2-for-4. Morales was 2-for-4 with a walk. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 3, Dayton 4 Box Score Rubel Cespedes gave the Kernels an early lead, but the team was unable to hold small leads early and then late. Leading off the top of the second inning, Cespedes connected for his 12th home run of the season. Two innings later, Cespedes put the Kernels up 2-0 with a single to drive in Walker Jenkins. Dayton’s Leo Balcazar homered in the bottom of the fourth to make it 2-1. Then two innings later, he tied the score at 2-2 with an RBI single. The score remained 2-2 until the eighth inning. In the top of the frame, Kaelen Culpepper led off with his first Kernels hit, a double to left. Jenkins walked. A wild pitch advanced both runners a base. Culpepper scored on a ground out by Gabriel Gonzalez, but the team now held a 3-2 lead. Unfortunately, the Reds High-A affiliate scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning and held the Kernels scoreless in the ninth inning. Tanner Hall made his second Kernels start. He gave up two runs on two hits over 5 1/3 innings. He had three walks and four strikeouts. Mike Paredes was charged with two runs on four hits over 1 2/3 innings. Paredes started the bottom of the eighth but wasn’t able to get an out. Gabriel Yanez came in and gave up one hit to allow an inherited runner to score. Cespedes went 3-for-4 with his 12th homer and two RBI. Walker Jenkins hit his seventh double, and Misael Urbina hit his 15th double. Unfortunately, the Kernels went just 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position and left six runners on base. MUSSEL MATTERS Game 1: Fort Myers 1, Tampa 4 Box Score Charlee Soto started for the Mussels. He gave up three runs in four innings, all scoring in the second inning. He allowed seven hits, walked one and had six strikeouts. Ben Ethridge worked the final two innings. He gave up one run on two hits. The Mussels got on the board in the fourth inning when second-round pick Billy Amick hit his first professional home run. Kyle DeBarge reached base twice, once on a single and once via a walk. Ceden Kendle hit his sixth double since joining the Mussels. Unfortunately, base runners were at a premium for the Mussels in Game 1. They were just 0-for-2 with runners in scoring position. Game 2: Fort Myers 1, Tampa 4 Box Score The Mussels’ offense was much better in Game 2. In fact, they had five runs in the first three innings of the game. Unfortunately, a 5-0 lead could not be held as the Yankees affiliate scored seven straight runs to grab the win. Fort Myers manufactured a first-inning run. Kyle DeBarge singles and stole his 11th bag. He advanced to third when Brandon Winokur grounded out to second base on a 1-2 pitch. Billy Amick grounded to the shortstop who threw home but not in time to get the speedy DeBarge. In the second inning, Jay Thomason hit the first home run of his professional career. Maddux Houghton followed with a walk and his 18th stolen base. With two outs, Winokur drove him in with a single to center that made it 3-0 Fort Myers. Khadim Diaw, the catcher/center fielder drafted in the third round this year from Loyola Marymount, led off the inning with a single. He stole second base and advanced to third on a Jaime Ferrer double. After an infield pop out, Diaw scored on a wild pitch. Thomason then drove in Ferrer with a single that made it 5-0. Unfortunately the Mussels managed just one more hit over the final four innings. Cesar Lares started the game with three scoreless innings. However, he gave up five runs (3 earned) on seven hits, a walk, and two hit batters in 4 2/3 innings. He had four strikeouts. Juan Mercedes came in with two runners on, and he stranded them. He went a total of 2 1/3 innings. He gave up two runs on one hit, one walk, and one hit batter. He had three strikeouts. Jaime Ferrer went 3-for-3 with his sixth double. Jay Thomason went 2-for-3 with a homer and two RBI. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day – Tanner Hall (Cedar Rapids) - 5 1/3 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 4 K, 75 pitches, 46 strikes (61.3%). Hitter of the Day – Jake Rucker (Wichita) - 3-for-6, 2B(15), HR(8), 3 R, 2 RBI. PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our recently-updated Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Wednesday. #1– Walker Jenkins (Cedar Rapids) – 1-for-3, BB, 2B(7), R, K #7 – Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids) – 0-for-4, RBI. #8 – Charlee Soto (Fort Myers) – Game 1: 4 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 72 pitches, 43 strikes (59.7%) #9 - Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-4, 2B(1), R, K. #12 – Brandon Winokur (Fort Myers) – Game 1: 0-for-3, 2K, Game 2: 1-for-4, RBI. #16 - Kyle DeBarge (Fort Myers) - Game 1: 1-for-2, BB, CS(1), Game 2: 1-for-4, R, SB(11), 3 K. #17 - Tanner Schobel (Wichita) – 0-for-4, 2 BB, 2 R, K. #19 - C.J. Culpepper (Wichita) - 2 ⅔ IP, 2 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 2 K, 62 pitches, 37 strikes (59.7%) THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Scranton/Wilkes Barre @ St. Paul (7:07 PM CST) – RHP Caleb Boushley (9-5, 4.73 ERA) Wichita @ Midland (7:00 PM CST) – RHP Travis Adams (4-7, 4.08 ERA) Cedar Rapids @ Dayton (6:05 PM CST) – RHP Ty Langenberg (4-2, 4.50 ERA) Ft. Myers @ Tampa (5:30 PM CST) – RHP Jose Olivares (2-1, 2.57 ERA) Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Wednesday’s games! View full article

At the trade deadline, the San Diego Padres went out and acquired four pitchers including a couple of All Star caliber relief pitchers in Tanner Scott and Jason Adams. The Twins traded for Trevor Richards. Image courtesy of Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports (Jax photo), Matt Krohn, USA Today (Okert photo) How many of the Twins relievers do you believe in to get the job done 80-85% of the time? A study done by Retrosheet several years ago showed that when a team holds a one-run lead going into the ninth inning, they win about 86% of the time. If they lead by two runs, the team wins about 94% of the time. With a three-run lead, that number jumps to about 97% Mariano Rivera, who is the only player unanimously voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, was successful in just over 89% of his career save opportunities. Joe Nathan’s save percentage was percentage points higher than Rivera’s. My point isn’t to ask how Joe Nathan didn’t even get enough votes to remain on the Hall of Fame ballot for more than one election cycle. Instead, it’s simply to point out that even the best relievers of all-time didn’t get their job done almost 10% of the time. So again I ask, how would you rank the relief pitchers in the Twins bullpen right now? This is a question that could be asked from month-to-month (maybe even week-to-week) and the results might look a little bit different. Frankly, the Twins need someone, a couple of relievers to have a strong stretch run. It's more important since Brock Stewart will be out of the season, and Justin Topa has had yet another setback. Check out my personal Twins bullpen confidence rankings, and then discuss them in the Comments below. But be sure to post your rankings too. RHP Griffin Jax (29) 3-4, 8 Saves, 1.79 ERA, 0.85 WHIP, .176 BAA 57 G, 55 ⅓ IP, 35 H, 3 HR, 12 BB, 1 HB, 71 K I don’t think there is much question at the top of this list. In fact, earlier this week, Nick wrote that Jax has a strong case to be the Twins MVP to this point in the season. He just continues to get better and better. He has been a workhorse. He has been nearly unhittable. He throws a ton of strikes. Considering how max-effort each of his pitches are, he generally has very good control. His fastball is now consistently 96-97. His slider can be absolutely devastating and he gets a ton of swing-and-miss on it. And this year, it sure seems that his changeup has greatly improved. When it’s on, it darts down and in on a right-hander. For me, I want Jax to pitch a little bit less to try to keep his arm strong. That said, I want him pitching in the most important late-inning situation whether that happens in the seventh, eighth, or ninth inning. RHP Jhoan Duran (26) 6-6, 18 Saves, 3.32 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, .207 BAA 44 G, 40 ⅔ IP, 30 H, 4 HR, 12 BB, 3 HB, 44 K We definitely aren’t seeing the same Jhoan Duran in 2024 that we did in 2023. While he still sits 100-103 with the four-seam fastball, and his sprinkler typically hits 97-98 mph. However, watching him, it’s not quite as electrifying as we have seen. And, maybe that’s because his season started late and he really didn’t have a spring training. That matters. His ERA is a little higher, though his WHIP is actually better. He’s giving up the same number of hits per nine innings (6.6) and home runs per nine innings (0.9). His walk rate is actually down to 2.7 BB/9 from 3.6 BB/9. Maybe what’s most notable is that his strikeout rate has dropped from 12.1 K/9 to 9.7 K/9. He’s still striking out more than a batter per inning, but 2 ½ less strikeouts per nine innings is noteworthy. Again, looking at the numbers, it’s entirely possible that we have just been spoiled by what we have seen from Duran in his first two big-league seasons. He’s still quite reliable. RHP Cole Sands (27) 6-1, 4 Saves, 3.23 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, .223 BAA 47 G, 55 ⅔ IP, 47 H, 5 HR, 8 BB, 5 HB, 63 K I can’t imagine that anyone who made predictions about the 2024 Twins roster would have had Sands being as valuable and productive as he has been. He has been up with the team all season. He’s pitched in a variety of roles. Primarily he’s been in middle relief, but he’s had set-up opportunities too. He’s come in in the third or fourth innings, and he’s been given save opportunities when Jax and Duran are unavailable, and been quite successful. Some of that is simply being a full-time bullpen arm and that arm being healthy. He is throwing harder, touching 97 and even 98 at times. He’s always had the ability to spin the ball and get swings and misses on his slider. He also changes speeds. In 21 2/3 MLB innings in 2023, he had 3 walks. In 55 2/3 innings this year, he has just eight walks. He’s giving up less hits. His home run rate has been cut in half. He’s over 10 K/9. It sure seems that he is getting a lot more high-leverage opportunities and thankfully for the Twins, he’s been quite successful. RHP Jorge Alcala (29) 3-3, 0 Saves, 3.09 ERA, 1.01 WHIP, .186 BAA 43 G, 46 ⅔ IP, 31 H, 5 HR, 16 BB,3 HB, 43 K Alcala made his MLB debut at age 24 at the end of the 2019 season. Unfortunately, he has missed a lot of time with various arm/shoulder injuries. He pitched in 59 games for the Twins in 2021. He struck out just over a batter per inning. He had just 2.0 BB/9. His WHIP was at 0.97. But then he pitched in just two games in 2022 and just 11 games in 2023. Earlier this season, he was the guy who would get sent to the Saints when the Twins needed an arm. Simply, he had options. But, he has become much more valuable and consistent with each of his pitches. Sure, he had a bad game over the weekend, but overall, he has been quite good. He’s giving up less hits, less homers, and has his walk rate down to a more average number. Especially noteworthy is his pure stuff. He is now hitting triple digits rather consistently and his slider is often sharp, late breaking. RHP Ronny Henriquez (24) 1-0, 0 Saves, 0.00 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, .217 BAA 5 G, 6 IP, 5 H, 0 HR, 1 BB, 0 HB, 5 K I would think that this is where the lists might find variance. Henriquez has been up a few times to eat innings, but it seems that he is much more sharp and throws better in the big leagues than he has with the Saints. He’s not a big guy, but he throws hard, and he’s got a really sharp slider. He hasn’t been consistent, and he’s still often being asked to work three-plus innings, but he has the kind of stuff that can dominate once through the lineup. Henriquez came up in 2022 and pitched in three games. He was hurt most of the first half of the 2023 season and then pitched in 37 games for the Saints. He came off of the Twins 40-man roster after the season but quickly re-signed with the Twins. He’s pitched pretty well with the Saints this year, cutting his walk total significantly. RHP Louie Varland (26) 0-5, 0 Saves, 6.14 ERA, 1.64 WHIP, .312 BAA 8 G, 7 GS, 36 ⅔ IP, 49 H,9 HR, 11 BB, 4 HB, 32 K I’m not sure the Twins can or should do it now. When Joe Ryan got hurt, it increased the team’s need for Varland to be available as a starter. However, if the Twins were to bring up Varland and put him into the bullpen, I think he’d be a pretty reliable option. He is throwing 98 as a starter, we’d again see triple-digit numbers from him out of the bullpen. He can air it out a bit more. He did well in the role last year. LHP Caleb Thielbar (37) 2-3, 3 Saves, 5.91 ERA, 1.54 WHIP, .268 BAA 43 G, 35 IP, 38 H, 5 HR, 16 BB, 0 HB, 41 K Thielbar came back to the Twins for the 2020 season. That season, he posted a 2.25 ERA. From 2021-2023, his ERAs were 3.23, 3.49, 3.23. In those three seasons, he has struck out about 11 per nine innings while walking about 2 ½ per nine innings. He missed some time in 2023 and came back very strong. He missed a lot of time early in 2024, and he really struggled. On June 11 and 12, he pitched in back-to-back games against the Rockies. He faced four batters in each game and gave up four hits, three walks and one batter got on via error. He has now pitched in 20 games since then, and in 19 ⅓ innings, he has given up run(s) in five of them. Not great. His ERA is about 4.50 since then, but he’s a veteran. He’s been through it. So, unless he’s just completely done, he should be solid the rest of the season. From my eye test, he is now throwing 92-95 again and his slow, slow curveball is pretty solid again. RHP Josh Winder (27) 0-0, 0 Saves, 3.00 ERA, 0.89 WHIP, .212 BAA 4 G, 9 IP, 7 H, 0 HR, 1 BB, 2 HB, 10 K Once a top 100 prospect, Winder has found himself on the Injured List pretty much since his call-up in 2022. His days as a starter are likely done. However, when healthy, he does have some really good stuff. He has plenty of fastball. He’s got a good slider, at times. We just haven’t seen it a lot since he’s been with the Saints most of the season. That is, after missing the first month of the season and not throwing through all of spring training. LHP Kody Funderburk (27) 1-0, 1 Save, 5.61 ERA, 1.51 WHIP, .279 BAA 26 G, 33 ⅔ IP, 36 H, 4 HR, 15 BB, 5 HB, 31 K Funderburk was a decent, lefty starting pitcher prospect. However, once he moved to the bullpen, he really took off. He was called up to the Twins in late August and posted a 0.75 ERA with a 0.92 WHIP over 12 innings in which he had 19 strikeouts. This year, he has given up at least one run in 13 of his 26 appearances. The last time he pitched was July 12th. He went on the Injured List with an oblique strain on July 21st. He could be back soon, and if healthy, hopefully he returns to those 2023 levels of success. RHP Scott Blewett (28) 0-0, 0 Saves, 0.00 ERA, 0.00 WHIP, .000 BAA 1 G, 1 IP, 0 H, 0 HR, 0 BB, 0 HB, 1 K A week ago, Blewett threw 15 pitches in a perfect inning for the Twins to close out an 8-3 win against the Royals. It was his first MLB appearance since 2021. It felt like a great story. And by the next day, we learned that he had been DFAd. A couple of days later, we learned he cleared waivers and was outrighted to St. Paul. However, he elected to become a free agent. A day later, he re-signed with the Twins and is back with the Saints. He has pitched well throughout the season in St. Paul. He’s got a good fastball, a really good slider, and an impressive split-finger pitch. Could he get back to the Twins this season? RHP Trevor Richards (31) 0-1, 1 Save, 3.00 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, .100 BAA 8 G, 9 IP, 3 H, 0 HR, 7 BB, 2 HB, 10 K The Twins lone trade deadline acquisition sent infielder Jay Harry to the Blue Jays organization in exchange for veteran Trevor Richards. He started with two, scoreless, one-inning outings. However, the first time he was put into a close game, he gave up three runs on one hit and an impressive five walks. The next night, Baldelli put him right back out there the next night, and he earned the save with a perfect inning. Ultimately, that is the only one of his eight appearances in which he gave up a run. He had another game in which he gave up a hit and two walks but got out of it unscathed. In his six other outings, he’s actually been just fine, but the lack of control can be hard to watch. LHP Steven Okert (33) 3-2, 1 Save, 5.40 ERA, 1.53 WHIP, .273 BAA 42 G, 33 ⅓ IP, 36 H, 6 HR, 15 BB, 3 HB, 31 K The veteran lefty spent parts of 2016-2018 with the San Francisco Giants. He didn’t pitch in the big leagues in 2019 or 2020. However, he worked in 158 games for the Marlins between 2021 and 2023. While his FIP was over 4.30, his ERA was actually below 3.00 the first two years. Before the 2024 season, the Twins acquired Okert from the Marlins in exchange for utility man Nick Gordon. With Okert, it all comes down to Command and Control. As you see, he simply has too many walks, and that’s made worse with three hit batters. You can usually tell how an Okert outing will go pretty quick, with fastballs flying up and out of the strike zone and sliders Summary So there you have it. My rankings of the current Twins with a couple of Triple-A guys thrown in for good measure. Griffin Jax Jhoan Duran Cole Sands Jorge Alcala Ronny Henriquez Louie Varland Caleb Thielbar Josh Winder Kody Funderburk (IL) Scott Blewett Trevor Richards Steven Okert Your turn. Let me know what you think of my rankings, and share yours as well. View full article

The difference there is Keirsey can become a free agent after the season, so although they know what they have in him already, the "see what he can do" phrase makes some sense. Then again, with only two extra roster spots in September and a team that will be vying for a playoff spot, that isn't enough reason. As it relates to Utility types (infield and outfield), I would think that Helman would be the call ahead of Eeles yet, so long as he is healthy. Again, he can be a free agent as well after the season.

What these players do in their draft years really doesn't matter at all. Pitchers don't pitch in games (or certainly not more than 1 or 2). College hitters probably haven't played on any sort of regular basis for 1-3 months when they sign and report. It's just about getting them some pro at-bats, with the wood bat, getting used to playing every day, having an away-from-home job for maybe the first time, meeting tons of new people, learning the organization's philosophies on nutrition, weight room plans, and how they use analytics and what is available to them. In my mind, if you're picking after about 18-20 in the first round of the draft, you have to make a choice. You aren't going to find the perfect player, so you find a player that meets what you're looking for and try to determine what they can work on and develop. With Culpepper, in my opinion (which doesn't mean much, I'm sure), you've got a nice mix of high floor because of his current skill set in the field and at the plate. He also has some tools that he can work on and the Twins player development can work on with him. So, I think there is a chance for some fairly high ceiling too. He can hit for average, some power, run well, play solid defense in the infield, throw, etc. Of note, I do enjoy when they draft high school athletes as they've got all the tools, so Caldwell would have been a lot of fun too. And, to your final point, I believe that it is very much possible that the Twins targeted Yesavage when the Blue Jays took him. But I think that the result is still a tremendous pick (considering the spot in the round).

I'm not sure that's true. Yes, on some days, he'll face some top prospects. On other days, he'll face 5th starters or back-end of A-ball bullpen guys. For the most part, most division 1 players, even those at top colleges, don't get to Low A, much less High A.

Payton Eeles was the Twins minor league hitter of the week for August 12-18, 2024. Seth caught up with the 24-year-old multi-position, everyday player before the Saints start their home series against Scranton/Wilkes Barre. Eeles has been electric, no matter where he's been placed in the organization or on the field or in the lineup). Hear directly from him about his game and his story and more. View full video

The minor-league season is quickly running toward an end. On Tuesday, the DSL season will end. The full season affiliates have three more weeks with the Saints going a week longer. This week found some ups and downs for the affiliates. The Mussels went 4-2 against their top competitor. The Saints had a rough week, and yet, they had the hitter selected as hitter of the week. Check out all that happened in the Twins organization on Monday and last week. Image courtesy of Rob Thompson (photos of Payton Eeles) Spoiler Alert! I am about to post a video interview with this week's Twins Minor League Hitter of the Week. If you prefer to just read through everything before seeing who that is, be sure to scroll quickly past the video shown directly below this paragraph. TRANSACTIONS SS Kaelen Culpepper has been promoted to Cedar Rapids. The Kernels put 1B/3B Kevin Maitan on the 7-Day IL with a hamstring strain. DOMINICAN DAILIES DSL Twins 10, DSL Rockies 2 Box Score In the DSL Twins penultimate game of the 2024 season, Eduardo Beltre did Eduardo Beltre things in leading his team to a big win. In this game, Beltre went 3-for-5 with his ninth double, 11th home run, and four RBI. For the season, he is now hitting .336 with a 1.096 OPS. He also stole his 10th base of the season. Daiber De Los Santos had a nice pro debut season as well. In this game, he went 3-for-5 with his 11th double. Irvin Nunez also went 3-for-5. Catcher Carlos Silva was a big signing a year ago, and he went 2-for-5 with his ninth double in this game. Melvin Rodriguez put together his fifth strain solid start for the DSL squad. In this game, he tossed four scoreless innings. He gave up three hits and walked two while striking out four batters. Jose Vasquez gave up two runs on four hits and two walks in three innings. He had five strikeouts. Aiberson Ventura ended the game with four strikeouts over two, one-hit innings. WEEK IN REVIEW Triple-A: St. Paul Saints Overall: 56-63, Ninth place in the IL West. 2nd Half: 18-27, Tied for ninth place in IL West. Last Week: 0-6 at Indianapolis. The Saints lost all six games by a combined total of nine runs, including four one-run losses. Payton Eeles continues to amaze. The infielder is now also playing some outfield. He played in all six games this past week. He went 8-for-19 and hit .421/.522/.526 (1.048) with two doubles. Caleb Boushley gave up one run on six hits over six innings in his start. He had eight strikeouts and did not allow a walk. Randy Dobnak returned from his much-anticipated return to the big leagues and went four innings in his start. He gave up one run on four hits. He walked two and had six strikeouts. Andrew Morris made his first two Triple-A starts. The first went well. He gave up one run on two hits and a walk over six innings. In the second start, he gave up three runs on two hits, a hit batter, and four walks. What’s Next: The Saints will be hosting Scranton/Wilkes Barre, the Triple-A affiliate of the New York Yankees. Head out to CHS Field for a few games. Click here for ticket information. Double-A: Wichita Wind Surge Overall: 49-65. Fifth place in the Texas League North 2nd Half: 18-27. Fifth place in Texas League North. Last Week: 2-4, at home versus Arkansas. Andrew Cossetti played more and he played well. In four games, he hit .333/.308/.833 (1.141) with a double, a triple, and a home run. He also drove in five runs. OF Carson McCusker played in all six games. He went 9-for-25 and hit .360/.360/.720 (1.080) with four doubles, a triple, and one home run. UT Dalton Shuffield continues to play well despite rarely finding a permanent home. In five games, he went 6-for-17, hitting .353/.389/.588 (.977) with a double, a homer and five RBI. Is it possible that the top pitching performance of the week for the Wind Surge came from infielder Jorel Ortega. He went 1 1/3 innings and did not allow so much as a baserunner. Marco Raya went 4 1/3 innings in his start. He gave up no runs, two hits, walked three and struck out five batters. Cory Lewis went 5 1/3 innings in his start. He gave up one run on five hits. He walked three and had seven strikeouts. Christian MacLeod returned from his one-start appearance with the Saints. The southpaw gave up one run on three hits and a walk over 4 1/3 innings. Travis Adams went 3 2/3 innings in his start. He gave up one run on two hits. He walked two and had five strikeouts. Miguel Rodriguez pitched twice and had one save. In three innings, he gave up no runs on two hits. He hit two batters and had four strikeouts. Kyle Bischoff had nine strikeouts over four innings. What’s Next: For the second straight week, the Wind Surge will be on the road. They will be in Midland, taking on Oakland’s Double-A affiliate. High-A: Cedar Rapids Kernels Overall: 61-51 (3-3 last week in Peoria) Second place in the Midwest League West 2nd Half: 24-24: Third place in the MWL West Division (4.5 GB) Last Week: Went 3-3, hosting the Cubs High-A affiliate from South Bend. Rixon Wingrove’s transition to High-A has gone quite smoothly. In six games, he went 6-for-20. He hit .300/.364/.750 (1.114) with three home runs. Jose Salas had a very nice week. He played all six games and went 6-for-18, hitting .333/.368/.556 (.924) with two doubles and a triple. Walker Jenkins hit .320/.370/.440 (.810) with three doubles over 27 plate appearances. On Sunday, Jeremy Lee made a start and tossed four scoreless innings. Spencer Bengard came on in relief and gave up only an unearned run over four innings. Combined they gave up just five hits and walked two. John Klein made a rare appearance out of the bullpen. He tossed five scoreless innings. He gave up four hits, walked none and had three strikeouts. Lefty Rafael Marcano, a minor-league Rule 5 pick in December, pitched twice out of the bullpen. In a combined six innings, he gave up no runs, three hits, two walks, and he had six strikeouts. Ricky Castro put together arguably his best start since joining the Twins organization a couple of months ago. In six innings, he gave up one run on four hits. He walked two and struck out eight batters. What’s Next: The Kernels will be on the road the next two weeks. This week they’ll be in Dayton, followed by an off day before starting a series at Lake County. They will return home on September 3rd (the day after Labor Day) for their final series of the season. They’ll be taking on Cooper Pratt and the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. Low-A: Fort Myers Mighty Mussels Overall: 68-43. Second place in Florida State League West 2nd half: 29-15, First place in FSL West (4 game lead over Lakeland) Last Week: In a big series, the Mussels took four of six games against Lakeland at Hammond Stadium. They increased their second-half lead from two to four games. Brandon Winokur had a big week in one game last week. His three home run game was the key factor in his 1.080 OPS. Overall, he hit .286/.318/.762 and added a double. He also went 3-for-3 on stolen base attempts. In five games, the Twins fifth-round pick from the 2024 draft, Caden Kendle went 6-for-16 and hit .375/.474/.500 (.974). Sixth-round pick from Coastal Carolina, Derek Bender, played in four games and hit .308/.357/.538 (.895) with a home run. Jaime Ferrer, the fourth-round pick from Florida State, had three doubles during the week. The Mussels put together some really strong starts last week. Charlee Soto went five shutout innings in his start. He gave up four hits, walked two, and had four strikeouts. Jose Olivares tossed four innings in his start. He gave up no runs and no hits. He walked two and struck out three batters. Lefty Cesar Lares made one start and worked five scoreless innings. He gave up seven hits, walked none and had two strikeouts. Young Adrian Bohorquez went four scoreless innings during his start. He gave up one hit, walked three and struck. There were also some strong appearances out of the bullpen. Of course, with young arms, generally in their first couple of seasons in pro ball. Starting and relieving can be a big interchangeable. Knuckleballer Devin Kirby went four one-hit innings in his appearance. He walked one and struck out five batters. Juan Mercedes tossed 3 1/3 scoreless innings over two appearances. He gave up one hit, walked two and had five strikeouts. Ben Ethridge recorded a three-inning save. He gave up no hits, walked one and had four strikeouts. Samuel Perez struck out four batters over three scoreless innings in his appearance. He gave up two hits and walked none. What’s Next: The Mussels will travel north to Tampa to play seven games. They will play doubleheaders on Wednesday and Saturday with a day off on Friday. Dominican Summer League: DSL Twins Overall: 29-25: Fourth place in Dominican Summer League South Eduardo Beltre has consistently been in these weekly reports. Last week, he played in four games and went 7-for-16. He hit .438/.471/.563 (1.034) with two doubles. He was also 4-for-4 in stolen base attempts. Nelson Urbina played in three games and .444 with a double and a triple. Carlos Silva hit the team’s lone home run. He also walked four times. Anderson Ramos struck out six and walked two batters in a one-hit, 3 1/3 inning appearance. After taking on the Rockies on Monday, the DSL Twins will host the Angels on Tuesday morning. It will be the final game of their season. PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our Twins Top 20 prospects. And, be sure to note the new, updated Top 20 rankings. #1– Walker Jenkins (Cedar Rapids) – 6 G, 8-for-25, .320/.370/.440 (.810), 3-2B, 6 R, 0 RBI, 2 BB, 3 K. #2 – Brooks Lee (Minnesota) – Injured List (right biceps) #3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (Wichita) - Injured List (hand/wrist) #4 – Luke Keaschall (Wichita) – Injured List (Elbow) #5 – Zebby Matthews (Minnesota) – 1 GS, 1-0, 3.60 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, .250 BAA, 5.0 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K. #6 - David Festa (Minnesota) - 1 GS, 0-0, 3.60 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, .286 BAA, 5.0 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 K. #7 – Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids) – 6 G, 5-for-24, .208/.296/.292 (.588), 2 R, 5 RBI, 3 BB, 3 K. #8 – Charlee Soto (Fort Myers) – 1 GS, 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, .222 BAA, 5.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K. #9 - Kaelen Culpepper (Fort Myers) - 6 G, 6-for-24, .250/.308/.417 (.725), 1-2B, 1-HR, 3 R, 5 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K. #10 - Marco Raya (Wichita) - 1 GS, 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, .143 BAA, 4.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 5 K. #11 - Andrew Morris (St. Paul) - 2 GS, 0-0, 4.00 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, .129 BAA, 9.0 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 5 BB, 5 K. #12 – Brandon Winokur (Fort Myers) – 6 G, 6-for-21, .286/318/.762 (1.080), 1-2B, 3-HR, 5 R, 5 RBI, 1 BB, 3 K, 3 SB. #13 – Cory Lewis (Wichita) – 1 GS, 0-0, 1.69 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, .263 BAA, 5.1 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 7 K. #14 - Yasser Mercedes (Fort Myers) - IL. #15 - Kala’i Rosario (Wichita) - Injured List (elbow fracture) #16 - Kyle DeBarge (Fort Myers) - 6 G, 4-for-21, .190/.320/.238 (.558), 1-2B, 3 R, 5 RBI, 4 BB, 8 K, 3 SB #17 - Tanner Schobel (Wichita) - 6 G, 8-for-27, .296/.321/.444 (.765), 2-2B, 1-3B, 4 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 2 K. #18 - Dasan Hill (FCL Twins) - Not assigned to a roster yet. #19 - C.J. Culpepper (Wichita) - 1 GS, 0-0, 10.13 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, .333 BAA, 2.2 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 0 BB, 4 K. #20 – Connor Prielipp (Cedar Rapids) – 1 GS, 0-0, 9.00 ERA, 2.00 WHIP, .385 BAA, 3.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 3 K. Hitter of the Week - Payton Eeles (Saints) 6 games, 8-for-19, .421/.522/.526 (1.048), 2-2B, 3 R, RBI, 2 BB, 2 K, 1-for-1 SB Pitcher of the Week - Ricky Castro (Kernels) 1 GS, 6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 K View full article

It was a tough day in the Twins minor leagues, at least if you look at Wins and Losses. I guess on Saturday, there are only Losses to look at. However, each team affiliate had a couple of very noteworthy performances, including a couple of three-hit games, several homers including one b a 2024 top pick, and the return of a young prospect. Image courtesy of Ed Bailey, Wichita Wind Surge (photo of Andrew Cossetti) CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 70-53 St. Paul Saints: 56-62 Wichita Wind Surge: 49-64 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 60-51 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 60-48 FCL Twins: 27-31 (season complete) DSL Twins: 28-25 TRANSACTIONS The Mighty Mussels announced the return of a mighty bat. OF Jose Rodriguez was activated from the 60-Day Injured List. RHP Scott Blewett has had an interesting few days. He made his first MLB appearance since 2011. The next day, he was Designated for Assignment. We learned on Thursday that he had cleared waivers and the Twins outrighted him to St. Paul. Then on Friday night, news came out that he had elected free agency. Well, on Saturday afternoon, the Saints announced that the Twins re-signed Blewett to a minor-league deal. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 5, Indianapolis 6 Box Score Former Twins bench coach Derek Shelton was named the manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates after the 2019 season. His team is seven games under .500 right now and in fifth place in the NL Central. However, the team signed outfielder Bryan Reynolds a couple of years ago to a long-term deal. Veteran RHP Mitch Keller was locked up before this season. Jared Jones made a rehab start against the Saints the other day. The rookie made the team’s opening day roster and has ace potential and a triple-digit fastball. He’s been on the Injured List for a couple of months. Everyone is aware of Livvy Dunne’s boyfriend (Paul Skenes). He was called up two months into the season and started the All Star game for the National League. He will be a Cy Young contender for years to come, assuming health. And Luis Ortiz has done well in whatever role he's played. On Friday, the Saints saw RHP Bubba Chandler, a top 40ish prospect in all of baseball. The former two-sport, two-way player has flown up the ladder this year after transitioning fully to the mound just last year. He quieted the Saints in his second Triple-A start. On Saturday, the Pirates #5 prospect, Thomas Harrington, tossed seven scoreless innings against the Saints. He gave up just two hits and no walks. He was the 36th overall pick in the 2022 draft and could be ready very soon. In other words, in a couple of years, it just might be good to be Derek Shelton. I mean, it probably already is. He is very well respected around the game, but with that kind of pitching and the likes of Ke’Bryan Hayes and O’Neil Cruz and more, the Pirates could be ready to contend for a while. So, you just got a few paragraphs on the future of the Pittsburgh Pirates and some key cogs in that hope who are already at Triple-A Indianapolis. That’s because this wasn’t a very interesting game for a Saints fan. St. Paul had just three total hits in the game, and Yunior Severino had two of them. All three were singles. Rylan Bannon went 1-for-2 with a walk. The team went just 0-for-1 with runners in scoring position. Randy Dobnak made the start for the Saints. After working sparingly out of the Twins bullpen the past couple of weeks, he was eased back into the starting role. He gave up one run on four hits over four innings. He had two walks and six strikeouts. Nick Wittgren came on and gave up two runs on four hits over his two innings. Giovanny Gallegos and Josh Winder each tossed a scoreless inning. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 8, Arkansas 9 Box Score This was a bit of a back and forth game through the first seven innings. Both teams had a big inning, and scored in more innings too. However, the road team, the Travelers, took the final lead in the top of the seventh and held on. Jaylen Nowlin got the start for Wichita. He gave up a first-inning run and tossed a scoreless second inning. However, he started the third inning, but with one out, the Travelers already had two more runs and the bases were loaded. Jarret Whorff came in and allowed all three inherited runners and one of his own to score. He gave up another run in the fourth inning. Nowlin went 2 1/3 innings. He was charged with six runs on four hits and four walks. He also had five strikeouts. Whorff was charged with two runs on four hits in 1 2/3 innings. The Surge scored two runs in the second inning. Aaron Sabato was hit by a pitch and advanced to third base on Andrew Cossetti’s 15th double of the season. With one out, Kyler Fedko was batting. Sabato scored on a balk, and then Fedko drove in Cossetti with a sacrifice fly. Wichita surged to score four very quick runs in their half of the fourth inning. Carson McCusker led off with his 26th double. Sabato singled him to third base. Cossetti drove McCusker in with a single. Then Dalton Shuffield launched his third Wichita homer. The three-run blast cut the deficit to 8-6. That’s when Regi Grace came in. He tossed two scoreless innings to keep his team in striking distance. With one out in the bottom of the sixth, Cossetti hit his eighth home run of the year. With two outs, Fedko doubled and scored the tying run on a Jorel Ortega single. Taylor Floyd came in and allowed an unearned run in the top of the seventh that proved to be the game-winner. Miguel Rodriguez struck out two in a scoreless ninth inning. Andrew Cossetti had a very nice game at the plate. He went 3-for-4 with a double and his eighth home run. Jake Rucker went 2-for-5 KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 6, South Bend 3 Box Score South Bend started the game with three runs in the top of the first inning. The Kernels bats responded with two runs in the bottom of the inning, and two other two-run innings. The Kernels pitching responded by putting eight zeroes on the board. Connor Prielipp, the lefty who is still essentially rehabbing from his elbow procedure, started and tossed the first three innings. He gave up three runs in the first inning and then threw two scoreless innings. Minnesotan John Klein came on in the “bulk” role. He tossed five scoreless innings. He gave up just four hits and no walks, and he had three strikeouts. Mike Paredes struck out two batters in a perfect ninth inning to record the save. Klein improved to 8-2 on the season while Paredes picked up his second save. The Kernels faced another top college draft pick from recent years who is returning from Tommy John surgery. Jaxon Wiggins had six strikeouts over the first three innings, but he did give up two runs on five hits, two walks and a hit batter. Walker Jenkins led off the bottom of the first inning with a double. After two outs, he stole third base. Rixon Wingrove hit his third home run since joining the Kernels just over a week ago. The Kernels took the lead for good with another two-spot in the fourth inning. Yovanny Cabrera came in to replace Wiggins and got the first out. Jenkins drew a walk and scored on a Gabriel Gonzalez double. Rubel Cespedes followed with an opposite field single to drive in Gonzalez with the go-ahead run. It took until the eighth inning, but Cedar Rapids added a couple of insurance runs. Jose Salas led off with a single. Nick Lucky was hit by a pitch. With one out, an errant pickoff attempt allowed the runners to advance. Gabriel Gonzalez then drove in both runners with his 14th double of the season. Gonzalez led the way. He was 3-for-5 with two doubles and three RBI. Eight of the nine Kernels batters had at least one hit, though Gonzalez was the only hitter with multiple hits on Saturday. Nate Baez went 1-for-2 with two walks. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers 4, Lakeland 2 Box Score These teams played 18 half-innings in this game at Hammond Stadium on Saturday, and fans only saw runs scored in three of them. Lakeland put up three runs in the fifth inning. The Mussels scored two in the bottom of the seventh, but that’s as close as they got. The big takeaway from this game was the start by young Adrian Bohorquez. He tossed four scoreless innings and gave up just one hit. He walked three and had four strikeouts. In case you were wondering... He threw 28 four-seam fastballs and got five whiffs. They were between 92.5 mph and 95.8 mph with an average of 94.2 mph. He threw 27 sliders that averaged 86.1 mph. He also threw five slow curveballs which averaged 76.6 mph. Paulshawn Pasqualotto came in and worked the next four innings. He gave up three runs in the fifth inning before tossing three scoreless innings. He gave up five total hits and had two strikeouts. Cleiber Maldonado gave up one run on one hit and had two strikeouts in the ninth inning. In the bottom of the seventh inning, Caden Kendle walked, and with one out, Kaelen Culpepper hit his second pro homer to make the score 3-2. Byron Chourio was the lone Mussel with multiple hits. He was 2-for-4. Culpepper went 1-for-4 with his home run. In his return to the lineup, Jose Rodriguez went 1-for-3 with a walk. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day – John Klein (Cedar Rapids) - 5.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, 65 pitches, 42 strikes (64.6%). Hitter of the Day – Andrew Cossetti (Wichita) - 3-for-4, 2B(15), HR(8), 3 R, 2 RBI. 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. #1– Walker Jenkins (Cedar Rapids) – 1-for-4, BB, 2B(6), 2 R, SB(2), K #6 - David Festa (Minnesota) - 5.0 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, 81 pitches, 54 strikes (66.7%) #7 – Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids) – 3-for-5, 2-2B(14), R, 3 RBI, K. #9 - Kaelen Culpepper (Fort Myers) - 1-for-4, HR(2), R, 2 RBI. #12 – Brandon Winokur (Fort Myers) – 0-for-4, K #16 - Kyle DeBarge (Fort Myers) - 1-for-3, BB, R, 2 K, SB(7). #17 - Tanner Schobel (Wichita) – 1-for-5, 2B(17). #20 – Connor Prielipp (Cedar Rapids) – 3.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 3 K, WP. 44 pitches, 30 strikes (68.2%) SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS St. Paul @ Indianapolis (6:05 PM CST) – RHP Andrew Morris (0-0, 0.00 ERA) Arkansas @ Wichita (1:05 PM CST) – LHP Christian MacLeod (0-1, 3.52 ERA) South Bend @ Cedar Rapids (1:05 PM CST) – RHP Jeremy Lee (1-4, 4.50 ERA) Lakeland @ Ft. Myers (1:05 PM CST) – LHP Ross Dunn (1-3, 5.68 ERA) Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Saturday’s games! View full article

Wichita's Carson McCusker hit three of the team's seven doubles on Wednesday night helping them double-up Arkansas on the scoreboard. Also, Cory Lewis, Charlee Soto, and Ricky Castro all pitched really well. Check out all that happened in the Twins organization on Wednesday. Image courtesy of Ed Bailey, Wichita Wind Surge CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 67-53 St. Paul Saints: 56-59 Wichita Wind Surge: 48-62 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 59-49 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 58-47 FCL Twins: 27-31 (season complete) DSL Twins: 27-24 TRANSACTIONS The Twins optioned RHP Josh Winder to St. Paul. That allowed them to promote RHP Louie Varland to make the start on Wednesday afternoon. Following the game, Varland was optioned back to St. Paul. A corresponding move will likely be made before Thursday’s game in Texas. OF Yasser Mercedes was placed on the 7-Day Injured List by the Mussels. RHP Omar Montano was signed on Tuesday, and on Wednesday, he was assigned to the DSL Twins. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 5, Indianapolis 6 Box Score The Saints faced 23-year-old Jared Jones who was making his second rehab start before hopefully getting back to the Pirates. The flame-thrower had a tremendous start to his season and may have been a strong NL Rookie of the Year candidate (with Jackson Merrill) until teammate Paul Skenes arrived on the scene. The Saints were able to get to him early and often. With one out in the top of the first inning, Diego A. Castillo, Edouard Julien, and Jair Camargo hit back-to-back-to-back doubles to give them a 2-0 lead. With two outs, the speed of the Saints catchers showed itself. Camargo stole third base. Chris Williams walked and stole second. On a throwing error, Camargo scored from this base to make it 3-0. In the top of the third, Castillo led off with a single. One out later, Camargo singled Castillo to third base. After a pop out for the second out, Williams came through with a big, two-run double that made it 5-0. Unfortunately for the Saints, and for the second straight night, an early big league just wasn’t enough. That said, lefty Caleb Baragar had a very nice start. He tossed three shutout innings. He gave up two hits, walked none and struck out four batters. Ryan Jensen came in next and gave up three runs on two hits and a walk over 1 2/3 innings. Hobie Harris allowed an inherited runner to score and one run over his own on three hits and two walks over 1 1/3 innings. However, through five innings the Saints still clung to a 5-4 lead. That's where the score remained through eight innings thanks to two scoreless innings by Nick Wittgren. Diego Castillo came on for the bottom of the ninth, trying to protect a one-run lead. He faced five batters. It went single, single, single, reach on error, walkoff single. The Saints had nine hits and five of them were doubles. Diego A. Castillo went 2-for-5 with his 19th double. Camargo went 2-for-3 with a walk and his 13th double. Payton Eeles went 2-for-4 with his fourth double. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 8, Arkansas 4 Box Score In the top of the first, it was Mariners’ catching prospect Harry Ford who put Arkansas on the scoreboard with a solo home run. Ford is a top 100 prospect. The Twins top catching prospect, Ricardo Olivar, evened the score at 1-1 in the bottom of the first inning when he connected for his first home run with the Surge. Wichita took the lead in the bottom of the third inning. Jefferson Morales doubled to drive in Tanner Schobel. Morales then scored on a Carson McCusker double to make it 3-1. In the sixth inning, the lead jumped to 4-1 when McCusker scored on a Tyler Dearden double. Cory Lewis made the start for the Wind Surge. He gave up the first-inning Ford homer and that was the only run he allowed over 5 1/3 innings. He gave up five hits, walked three, hit one, and struck out seven batters. Regi Grace replaced Lewis with a runner on and got out of the sixth inning unscathed. Unfortunately, in the top of the seventh, he gave up three runs on three hits and a walk. He gave up an RBI triple to Cole Young and then Hogan Windish hit a two-run homer which tied the game 4-4. Following the seventh inning stretch, Jorel Ortega gave Wichita the lead back with his ninth homer of the season. Miguel Rodriguez came on and struck out two batters over two scoreless innings. He gave up just one hit… though he hit two batters. The Surge added some insurance in the bottom of the eighth inning. McCusker scored again, this time on a single by Aaron Sabato. Later in the inning, Ben Ross (who pinch-ran for Sabato) scored on Noah Cardenas double. Ortega drove in Cardenas with a single to make it 8-4. McCusker led the way. He went 4-for-4 with three doubles. He now has 25 on the season. Ortega went 2-for-4 with his ninth homer and two RBI. He also stole his eighth base Dalton Shuffield went 2-for-4. Schobel (17th), Morales (20th), Dearden (7th) and Cardenas (9th) each added a double. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 5, South Bend 2 Box Score Ricky Castro put together his best start since joining the Kernels. He gave up a first inning run, but that was the only run he gave up over six innings. He gave up four hits, walked two and had eight strikeouts. An Illinois native, he went undrafted out of Tulane. He ended the 2023 season with Juliet in the independent Frontier League. He made three appearances with them this spring before the Twins signed him on May 29th. He made just a handful of appearances in Fort Myers before joining the Kernels about three weeks ago. Down 1-0, the Kernels tied it in the bottom of the first inning. Gabriel Gonzalez hit a one-out single and scored on a Rubel Cespedes double. In the bottom of the second, Nick Lucky hit a one-out single and advanced to third on a Misael Urbina single. Lucky scored on a wild pitch. After Kyle Hess walked, Walker Jenkins singled to load the bases. Gonzalez followed with a walk to make it 3-1 Kernels. Mike Paredes gave up one run on one hit, a solo homer, over two innings. He had three strikeouts. Gabriel Yanez worked a scoreless ninth inning, although he did hit a batter. Gonzalez made it 4-1 in the bottom of the fourth inning when he singled in Misael Urbina. South Bend cut the lead to 4-2 in the eighth inning when Andy Garriola hit his second home run. The Kernels got that run back in the bottom of the eighth. Nate Baez doubled, and after a Lucky single, Misael Urbina hit into a double play that drove in the fifth run. Gonzalez went 2-for-4 with a walk and two RBI. Nate Baez was 2-for-3 with a walk and his ninth double. Lucky went 2-for-4. The Cespedes double was his 16th of the season. Kyle Hess had three walks in the game. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers 6, Lakeland 3 Box Score The Mussels scored single runs in the first, second and fifth innings to take a 3-0 lead. In the first inning, Kyle DeBarge scored on a force out off the bat of Billy Amick. In the second inning, Caden Kendle hit an infield single to short, and Daniel Pena scored on the throwing error. In the fifth frame, the Mussels took a 3-0 lead when Brandon Winokur scored on a wild pitch. Charlee Soto continued his late-season success with another strong start. He gave up four hits and two walks over five scoreless innings. He had four strikeouts. Juan Bonilla worked a scoreless inning in his return from the injured list. Tomas Cleto was on the mound next. He pitched a scoreless seventh inning but was only able to get one out. He was charged with three runs on two hits and two walks. Juan Mercedes allowed an inherited runner to score, but he had three strikeouts in 1 2/3 scoreless, hitless innings. Lakeland tied the game at 3-3 in the top of the eighth inning, but the Mussels responded with a three-run inning to take the commanding 6-3 lead. With two outs, Billy Amick doubled and Khadim Diaw walked. Daniel Pena drove in Amick with a single to right. Derek Bender walked to load the bases. Caden Kendle drove in two runs with his third double. Brandon Winokur went 2-for-3 with a walk and his 14th double. He also stole his 16th base. Kendle went 2-for-4 with the big, two-run double. Pena went 1-for-3 with a walk. DOMINICAN DAILIES DSL Twins 6, DSL Mets Blue 12 Box Score The game was back and forth through the first six innings when the Twins scored two runs to make it 5-5. Unfortunately, the Mets scored seven runs over the next two innings to take control of the game. Anderson Chacon started for the Twins. He gave up two runs (1 earned) on two hits and a walk over two innings. He had two strikeouts. Enyer Cepeda pitched the third inning and gave up an unearned run. Manuel Compres gave up a run on one hit and three walks over the next two innings. Aaron Carranza came in for the sixth inning. He gave up five runs (# earned) on three hits and two walks in 1 2/3 innings. Raymi Castillo got three outs and gave up three runs on two hits and three walks. All three outs he got were on strikeouts. Daniel Manzueta got four outs and gave up only one walk. Nestor Urbina led the offense. He went 3-for-3 with his fourth double. He also stole his seventh base. Ricardo Paez went 2-for-3 with a walk and his fourth steal. Luis Fragoza had a single and two walks. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day – Charlee Soto (Mussels) - 5.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K, 64 pitches, 42 strikes (65.6%). Ricky Castro (Kernels) - 6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 K, 84 pitches, 57 strikes (67.9%). Hitter of the Day – Carson McCusker (Wind Surge) - 4-for-4, 3-2B(25), 2 R, RBI PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our recently-updated Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Wednesday. #1– Walker Jenkins (Cedar Rapids) – 1-for-5, K #7 – Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids) – 2-for-4, BB, R, 2 RBI, K #8 – Charlee Soto (Fort Myers) – 5.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K, 64 pitches, 42 strikes (65.6%). #9 - Kaelen Culpepper (Fort Myers) - 0-for-4. #12 – Brandon Winokur (Fort Myers) – 2-for-3, BB, 2B(14), SB(16). #13 – Cory Lewis (Wichita) – 5.1 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, HB, 7 K, 86 pitches, 54 strikes (63.0%). #16 - Kyle DeBarge (Fort Myers) - 1-for-3, BB, R, 2 K, SB(7). #17 - Tanner Schobel (Wichita) – 1-for-5, 2B(17), R, K. THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS St. Paul @ Indianapolis (6:05 PM CST) – LHP Aaron Rozek (0-1, 6.38 ERA) Arkansas @ Wichita (7:05 PM CST) – RHP C.J. Culpepper (first AA start) South Bend @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 PM CST) – RHP Tanner Hall (first High-A start) Lakeland @ Ft. Myers (6:05 PM CST) – RHP Jose Olivares (2-1, 2.90 ERA) DSL Rockies @ DSL Twins (10:00 AM CST) - TBD Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Wednesday’s games! View full article

The Twins played the Guardians at Target Field. The Saints played the Guardians' Triple-A affiliate at CHS Field. A couple of two-run homers helped the Surge to a win. The Kernels got a tremendous relief appearance and scored early and often. The Mussels had a big inning and held on. Which 2024 draft pick launched his first professional homer? You can find all that and more in today's Twins Minor League Report. Image courtesy of David Malamut (@MWLArchives on X) Check out all that happened, and please ma CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 65-51 St. Paul Saints: 56-56 Wichita Wind Surge: 46-61 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 57-48 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 55-47 FCL Twins: 27-31 (season complete) DSL Twins: 25-23 TRANSACTIONS The Twins sent Louie Varland, the 27th man on their roster for Friday night’s game, back to the Saints. Michael Helman was also activated off of the 7-Day IL. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 7, Columbus 11 Box Score Whereas the Twins and Guardians were in a pitchers’ duel at Target Field, the Twins Triple-A affiliate and Guardians Triple-A affiliate were involved in the opposite. Caleb Boushley started for the Saints. He gave up six runs on nine hits (including three homers) over four innings. Caleb Baragar gave up one hit in a scoreless fifth inning. Nick Wittgren pitched two innings. He gave up three unearned runs on three hits (one homer) over two innings. He had three strikeouts. Giovanny Gallegos got the eighth inning. He gave up two runs on two hits and a walk. Diego Castillo pitched the ninth and had a walk and a strikeout in a scoreless ninth. Down 6-0 in the fourth inning, the Saints got on the board in the bottom of the fourth with two runs off of Triston McKenzie. Diego A. Castillo led off with a single. With one out, Jair Camargo walked. After the second out, Wynton Bernard singled to drive in Castillo with the first run. Patrick Winkel singled to score Camargo. Down 9-2 at the seventh-inning stretch, the Saints got a third run. With two outs, Payton Eeles doubled. After stealing third base, he scored on a wild pitch. Down 11-3 going to the bottom of the eighth, the Saints offense attempted a comeback again. The inning started with singles from Castillo and DaShawn Keirsey. After a pitching change, Camargo doubled to drive in a run. Michael Helman walked. Keirsey scored on a Bernard force out. Winkel then drove in two more runs with another double. Going to the bottom of the ninth inning down 11-7, the Saints tried to mount a two-out comeback. Keirsey singled and stole second base. He scored when Camargo reached on an infield error. There was a wild pitch and a Helman walk, but the game ended with a ground out. For the Clippers, Kyle Manzardo went 3-for-5 with his 16th home run. Estevan Florial was 4-for-4 with a walk, double, three home runs and seven RBI. Winkel went 2-for-4 with his 14th double. Castillo went 2-for-4. Keirsey went 2-for-4 with his 27th stolen base. Edouard Julien hit a double. Camargo was 1-for-3 with two walks and his 11th double. In his first game back with the Saints, Helman was 1-for-3 with two walks. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 3, Corpus Christi 3 Box Score The Wind Surge jumped ahead early, fell behind in the middle innings, and then took the lead back in the eighth frame. Were they able to hang on? Tyler Dearden led off the top of the second inning and reached on a fielding error. With one out, Tanner Schobel launched his ninth homer of the season to give the Surge a 2-0 lead. Travis Adams started and gave up one run on one hit and one walk over five innings. He had five strikeouts. John Stankiewicz came in for the sixth inning. He gave up two runs on three hits, and the Surge were down 3-2. Travis Floyd came in and threw two perfect innings. With two outs in the top of the eighth inning, Jake Rucker singled. Jeferson Morales launched his eighth home run of the season, a two-run blast that gave the Surge a 4-3 lead. That’s where the score remained entering the bottom of the ninth. Kyle Bischoff came on and struck out two batters in a perfect inning for his second save. Schobel went 2-for-4 with a homer in the game. The Surge had just six hits. Morales had the huge homer in the eighth inning. Carson McCusker hit his 22nd double, a pinch hit. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 7, Peoria 1 Box Score The Kernels scored in five of nine innings including a three-run sixth inning on their way to an easy win in Illinois. Connor Prielipp made the start and it had its ups and downs. In 2 2/3 innings, he gave up one run on no hits. He also had five strikeouts. On the other side, he had five walks. Rafael Marcano came in with two runners on base. He got the third out of the third inning, but not until giving up a hit that scored the run charged to Prielipp. Cedar Rapids got on the board first with a run in the top of the second inning. Kevin Maitan led off with a ground-rule double. He scored on a single by Nate Baez. Peoria tied the score in the bottom of the third inning. However, they retook the lead in the fifth frame. With two outs, Nick Lucky hit his first Kernels homer to give them a 2-1 lead. In the sixth inning, Gabriel Gonzalez led off with a walk. He moved to third base on Poncho Ruiz’s first Kernels double. Maitan then drove in two runs with a single. With one out, Wingrove walked. Following a pitching change, Maitan scored on a throwing error. The eighth inning began with singles by Maitan and Baez. After an out, Misael Urbina walked to load the bases. With two outs, Lucky walked to make it 6-1 Kernels. In the ninth, Gonzalez led off with a walk again. He moved to second on a wild pitch, and after a fly out, he moved to third on another wild pitch. Maitan came up and drove in his third run of the game with a sacrifice fly to conclude the scoring at 7-1. The pitching star of the game usually gets written about near the top of an article, but you could say that we’re burying the lede here a bit. Ty Langenberg came in for the fourth inning and completed the final six innings of the game. He gave up no runs on four hits. He had seven strikeouts without a walk. Maitan went 3-for-3 with a walk, his 12th double, three runs and three RBI. Baez went 2-for-4 with a walk. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers 6, Jupiter 2 Box Score A few players were promoted from Fort Myers to Cedar Rapids. Several others were transferred from the Mussels to the FCL Twins roster. However, the Fort Myers roster has basically become Brandon Winokur and the 2024 Draft’s Hitters, at least from the offensive side of the game. That group pulled together for a big five-run second inning to give the early lead. With one out in the top of the second inning, Jaime Ferrer singled and stole second. He scored on a Jay Thomason single. The Air Force alum then stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Daniel Pena, another holdover on the roster, reached on a walk. Derek Bender was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Caden Kendle drove in the second run with a ground out to third base. That put runners on second and third with two outs. Leadoff man, Kaelen Culpepper, came to the plate and drilled a shot down the left field line. It managed to stay fair. The Twins top draft pick drove in three runs with his first professional home run. The Mussels led 5-0. Intriguing 19-year-old Adrian Bohorquez came up to the Mussels following the FCL season. He made his first start and gave up two runs on three hits and two walks in four innings. He had six strikeouts. In case you were wondering, his fastball averaged 95.0 mph with a max of 96.8 mph. He has an upper-80s slider/cutter. He also threw a few slow curveballs in the upper-70s. Jack Noble came on and gave up a hit and a walk, but no runs, over two scoreless innings. He had three strikeouts. Cleiber Maldonado pitched the seventh inning. He gave up one run on two hits and a walk. Xander Hamilton struck out three batters over the final two innings for his ninth save. He got all six batters that he faced out. The offense slowed outside of their big second inning. They did add on one run in the sixth inning when Daniel Pena singled in Ferrer with the team’s sixth run. Pena went 2-for-3 with a walk in the game. Billy Amick was 2-for-4. DOMINICAN DAILIES DSL Twins 11, DSL Yankees 1 Box Score The DSL Twins managed to score 11 runs despite just seven hits and two walks. They also were hit by a pitch four times. In addition, the Yankees squad had five errors in the game and the Twins took advantage. The Twins scored two runs in each of the first three innings. They added one run in the fourth inning, and then scored four runs in the fifth inning. On the mound, 18-year-old Melvin Rodriguez gave up one run on four hits and a walk over five innings. He had six strikeouts. He is now 3-3 with a 2.98 ERA on the season. He has completed five innings in three of his past four starts, and he went 4 2/3 innings in the other start. In his past three starts, he has given up two runs in 14 2/3 innings. Nestor Cafe worked two scoreless, hitless innings. He had four walks but also five strikeouts. Daiber De Los Santos went 2-for-3 and was hit by a pitch. He stole home for his 13th stolen base. Ricardo Paez went 1-for-2 with his fourth double and two RBI. Nestor Urbina went 1-for-3 with a walk, his first triple, and two RBI. Victor Leal was hit twice. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day – Ty Langenberg (Kernels) - 6.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K, 74 pitches, 52 strikes (70.3%). Hitter of the Day – Kevin Maitan (Kernels) - 3-for-3, BB, 2B(12), 3 R, 3 RBI 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. #1– Walker Jenkins (Cedar Rapids) – 0-for-5, K #7 – Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids) – 0-for-2, 2 BB, HBP, 2 R #9 - Kaelen Culpepper (FCL Twins) - 1-for-4, BB, HR(1), R, 3 RBI. SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Columbus @ St. Paul (2:07 PM CST) – LHP Christian MacLeod (first AAA start) Wichita @ Corpus Christi (5:05 PM CST) – TBD Cedar Rapids @ Peoria (2:05 PM CST) – RHP John Klein (7-2, 4.56 ERA) Ft. Myers @ Jupiter (11:00 AM CST) – LHP Ross Dunn (1-3, 6.13 ERA) Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Saturday’s games! View full article

Not really any comparison to Buxton's contract at the point it was signed. Buxton was one year from free agency. Lewis will be four years from free agency. What would he make in arbitration if he stays healthy and produces? 2025: $5M, 2026: $10M, 2027: $18M, 2028: $25M... (4 years, $58M) What would he get going year to year if he maintains current health and production? 2025: $3M, 2026: $6M, 2027: $10M, 2028: $12 M (4 years, $31M) Lewis/Boras would say No to the latter. There is no reason for the Twins to take on all the risk of the top one. I'd argue that it'd be right around that same, $15 million mark. So here is where I would want it to be (And obviously they can shift the money around to make it make sense). Signing Bonus: $10M, 2025: $3.5M, 2026: $7.5M, 2027: $12M, 2028: $13M, 2029: $17M, 2030: $16M, 2031: $15M, 2032: $15M, 2033: $14M, 2034: $14M. Counting the Signing Bonus, Lewis would be at 4 years and $36 million over his arbitration years. It's a bit on the lower end of the year-to-year numbers above, but it'd be giving up some there to have generational wealth guaranteed, PLUS much more with incentives. Overall, it's a 10 year, $137 million contract. I would start the "Buxton Bonuses" starting in 2027... Buxton Bonuses: performance bonuses: $500,000 each for 502, 533, 567, 600, 625 plate appearances award bonuses: $8M for AL MVP ($7M for second place in vote, $6M for third place, $5M for fourth place, $4M for fifth place, $3M for sixth-10th place) So, if he had 625 plate appearances and won MVP, he could make an additional $10.5 million in any season. If they want to add three more years on at the end at $10M per year, I'd be fine with that. That'd make it 13 years and $167 guaranteed.