Seth Stohs

Lenny Faedo... whose nephew has been a member of the Detroit Tigers pitching staff for the past several years. I'm often in awe of the first 10-15 years of the MLB Draft. It's obvious not a science and will never be perfect, but there were some awful first-round pick (and Faedo made it to the big leagues), many didn't come close.

Looking to salvage the final game of this three game series and the final game of the season series, the Twins issued too many free passes to Yankees hitters. The are now 2-4 on the current road trip and will face two of the Pirates top starters this weekend in Pittsburgh. Image courtesy of © Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports Box Score SP: Pablo Lopez - 4.0 IP, 4 H, 7 ER, 6 BB, 4 K (96 pitches, 54 strikes (56.3%), 13 whiffs) Home Runs: Carlos Correa (5), Christian Vazquez (2). Bottom 3 WPA: Pablo Lopez (-0.47), Kyle Farmer (-0.15), Max Kepler/Cole Sands (-0.05) Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) Pablo Tries New Strategy There is no hiding it at this point. The 2024 season has been rather disappointing for Pablo Lopez. He entered the season with many thinking he was a Cy Young favorite. However, after his outing on Thursday night in Yankees Stadium, his ERA stands at 5.23. One might notice that Lopez tried a different strategy in this one. In the bottom of the first, he got a strikeout. Then he walked Juan Soto. He pitched to Aaron Judge but then walked Giancarlo Stanton. The strategy of taking the bat out of two of the Yankees top sluggers worked well that inning as Anthony Rizzo flew out to end a scoreless frame. He gave up a two-run homer to Yankees all-defense outfielder Trent Grisham in the second inning. But let’s jump to the third frame. Juan Soto led off with a walk. Lopez then walked Aaron Judge. Realizing that he put a zero on the board when he walked two of those three sluggers in the first inning, he walked Stanton to load the bases. The strategy of not letting those Big 3 beat them is filled in logic! He got a strikeout of Rizzo. Unfortunately, with the right side of the infield shifted way up the middle, Gleyber Torres waited back on a pitch and bounced it down the first base line to drive in two runs. After an Austin Wells sacrifice fly drove in Stanton, all three walks came back to score. In the fourth inning, Lopez got Soto to fly out, but then he walked Judge. Stanton singled which drove in Judge with the seventh run of the game. Having lost the first five games of the season matchup with the Yankees, it is a good idea to think differently, to make adjustments. In this case, walking two of the Big 3 led to zero runs. Walking all three of them to load the bases with nobody out had the result of all three scoring. And when walking just one of the three, the Yankees were limited to two runs. Unfortunately, Stanton drove in one of those runs. So, with a small sample size of one game, and three innings of opportunity, it is certainly too soon to declare the strategy a winner or a loser. Recommendation: I don’t know what other Twins Daily readers who watched this game think, but I’ve seen enough of the Walk The Big Three strategy. Encourage strikes, just careful, cautious strikes. … But For Real… A quick glimpse at some of the Statcast numbers from Lopez’s performance doesn’t really give any reason for concern. My first thought was to check the velocity. He averaged 94.6 mph with the fastball on Thursday night, down 0.1 mph from his average this season. He hit 96.7 mph. As far as Spin, his fastball, changeup and curveball each were within single digits of their averages. His sweeper spring was increased. The vertical and horizontal breaks were all within one or two inches of their season averages. He got 13 whiffs which isn’t terrible. As Lopez said after the game, there are games where he leaves the game shaking his head, wondering what he could have done differently to be better. Not in this game. “It was pretty obvious tonight.” Six walks and a hit batter. Very much uncharacteristic of Lopez, and therefore, this is a game that is easily flushed and moved on from. For years, a segment of Twins fans have called for "accountability." If this isn't it, I don't know what is. Speaking of Velocity Did you see the radar gun show 101 on one of Jorge Alcala’s four-seam fastballs? He had a few 100s to go with it. The 101 was actually 100.7. His average fastball in this game was 99.1 mph over 18 pitches, up 1.7 mph from his season average. His average slider was 91.8 mph, up 2.7 mph from its 89.1 mph average. In the game, he hit 100.7, 100.3, 100.1, and 100.0. But also Speaking of Velocity On the other side of the diamond, the Yankees started Marcus Stroman on the mound. He has been pitching very well, particularly of late. On this night, he threw 78 pitches. Only 11 of those pitches touched 90 mph. He threw just two four-seam fastballs, one at 89.3, the other at 88.8 mph. He threw 19 sinkers. They averaged 90.0 mph with a high of 91.0. He threw 21 cutters that averaged 88.1 mph, right on his season average. He threw 13 slurves (avg. 82.2), 12 Sliders (85.7 mph), and 11 splitters (83.6 mph). Now, you can probably assume that some pitchers were called the wrong thing. He throws a lot of cutters, sinkers, slurves, sliders and sinkers. The main point is that some forget that a pitcher can be very successful in this league without hitting the upper 90s. However, to do so, you have to do what Stroman has done most of his career and this season in particular. Nothing he throws is straight. All of his pitchers move like crazy in one and sometimes two directions. And, he tunnels very well, with all of his pitchers coming out of the same arm slot. I think he pitches very well to the situations as well. And, he rarely throws a pitch in the middle or upper parts of the strike zone, though with the movement, it’s still hard to square up. But when he knows he needs a ground ball, he works the bottom of the zone really well. Now Let's Talk Exit Velocity Carlos Correa has been rather solid this season. Clearly healthy and able to move more freely, he's been much more consistent at the plate too. In the first inning, he hit a ball 106 mph at a 24 degree launch angle. It went 383 feet and into the right-field bleachers. (But it was legit! It would have been a homer in 27 or 30 MLB ballparks.) In the fifth inning, with a runner on third, he hit a sacrifice fly deep enough to drive in a run. That ball was hit a 99 mph. In the eighth inning, he hit the hardest ball of the game but it ended in a force out. He hit that ball 110.4 mph. Of course, he also had a single that registered 66.3 mph of exit velocity. Again, just a reminder. Every pitching coach will tell you, hit the ball hard where it's pitched. Hit the ball hard and good things will happen. Every once in a while, a blooper will find a spot on the outfield grass to land safely, but the more often you hit the ball harder, the better your odds. If you want to talk about distance, the furthest-hit ball in Thursday night's game came off the bat of Christian Vazquez. His second home run of the season measured in at 404 feet. What’s Next? The Twins leave The Bronx and head to the Steel City to take on Derek Shelton and the Pittsburgh Pirates. While the Twins will face their staff ace and 2023 Diamond Award winner Mitch Keller, they will have a huge challenge with flame-thrower Jared Jones on Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), they will miss baseball's top pitching prospect this series. Paul Skenes pitches after Jones in the rotation. Fri 5:40 pm: RHP Joe Ryan (4-4, 3.38 ERA) vs RHP Mitch Keller (7-3, 3.42 ERA) Sat 3:05 pm: RHP Simeon Woods Richardson (2-0, 3.05 ERA) vs RHP Quinn Priester (0-5, 4.83 ERA) Sun 12:35 pm: RHP Bailey Ober (5-4, 4.94 ERA) vs RHP Jared Jones (4-5, 3.25 ERA) Postgame Interviews Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet SUN MON TUE WED THU TOT Alcalá 19 0 0 0 30 49 Staumont 0 0 0 20 19 39 Thielbar 9 0 16 0 12 37 Sands 0 0 18 0 16 34 Castillo 0 0 0 32 0 32 Okert 16 0 0 12 0 28 Durán 17 0 0 0 0 17 Jax 14 0 0 0 0 14 View full article

The Saints returned to action at CHS Field on Wednesday after Tuesday's game was postponed. Specifically, Brooks Lee and Edouard Julien made their returns to the Saints and each had an impact. Wichita got a terrific start. They had a top prospect return to their lineup... and then exit the game a bit later. Image courtesy of Rob Thompson, St. Paul Saints Over the past weekend, MLB Pipeline updated their Top 100 Prospect rankings because Rangers outfielder Wyatt Langford surpassed prospect eligibility. Most prospects moved up a spot, and Twins right-hander David Festa jumped into the #100 spot. Their rankings now include: #7 Walker Jenkins, #14 Brooks Lee, #31 Emmanuel Rodriguez, #83 Gabriel Gonzalez, #100 David Festa. On Wednesday, Baseball America updated their Top 100 Prospect Rankings. Here is where the Twins players lined up. #7 Walker Jenkins, #16 Emmanuel Rodriguez, #45 Brooks Lee, #66 Luke Keaschall, and #100 Zebby Matthews. CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 32-26 St. Paul Saints: 26-31 Wichita Wind Surge: 20-32 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 31-21 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 26-27 FCL Twins: 14-9 DSL Twins: 0-2 Let’s get to the report. As always, please feel free to discuss and ask questions. TRANSACTIONS Wichita activated RHP Zebby Matthews from the Development List. Jaylen Nowlin took his place on the Development List. In Fort Myers, Danny Moreno was placed on the 7-Day IL. RHP Jose Olivares - who tossed five shutout innings on Tuesday, was placed on the SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 5, Syracuse 1 Box Score The storyline for this game was the return of Brooks Lee to the St. Paul lineup. And understandably so. One of the Twins top prospects was one of the last cuts from spring training but back spasms kept him off the field for six or seven weeks. He has been playing in rehab games in Fort Myers the past couple of weeks. A rainout on Tuesday pushed his return back a day. Lee grounded out to second base in his first at-bat. In the sixth inning, he drove in Austin Martin with a single to left field. Lee wasn’t the only storyline to come out of this game though. And, it didn’t take too long to find another. Edouard Julien returned to the Saints after being optioned by the Twins on Sunday. He led off the bottom of the first inning with a long drive to left field for a home run. That was his lone hit of the game, though it should be pointed out that he had zero strikeouts in four at-bats. Another story happened on the mound. Right-hander Caleb Boushley continued to pitch fantastic for the Saints. He improved to 6-1 on the season with seven strong innings. He gave up one run on four hits. It came on a solo homer to Trayce Thompson. Boushley had eight strikeouts without issuing a walk. Michael Helman had the big hit for the Saints offense. In the sixth inning, the Saints had just taken the 2-1 lead on Lee’s RBI single. Helman came to the plate and blasted his eighth home run of the year, a three-run shot that made it a 5-1 ballgame. Matt Wallner and Austin Martin were both 1-for-3 with a walk in the game. Since he was sent back to St. Paul, Martin has played in 13 games and hit .310/.492/.405 (.897) with a double and a homer. What we have been paying closest attention to has been his walk-to-strikeout rate. Over that time frame, he has 15 walks and just three strikeouts. Wallner has also been very good of late. In his past eight games with the Saints, he is hitting .296/.424/.852 (1.276) with three doubles, four home runs, and 10 RBI. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 4, NW Arkansas 2 Box Score Emmanuel Rodriguez was again out of the Wind Surge lineup. He had not played since last Sunday with a hand/thumb issue. He singled in his first at-bat and then had a hustle double in the third inning. On the play, he dove headfirst into second base and … well, Tom has the video here. Travis Adams pitched very well. He gave up one run on four hits over five innings. He walked two and struck out three batters. Regi Grace came on and gave up only an unearned run over two innings. He walked two batters and struck out two batters. Austin Brice worked the final two innings. He struck out six batters. The lone blemish was that he hit a batter. The Wind Surge scored three runs in the third inning. Following Rodriguez’s leadoff double, he advanced to third on a wild pitch. Jeferson Morales singled to drive in the team’s first run and tie the game. Morales stole second and went to third on a wild pitch. He scored on Tanner Schobel’s ninth double. With two outs, Jake Rucker switched spots with Schobel with his ninth double of the season. They added another run in the fifth inning. Luke Keaschall doubled and scored on a two-out single by Carson McCusker. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 3, Great Lakes 10 Box Score This game was really just a story of one, half-inning. Great Lakes took advantage of an error to put together a six-run third inning. Christian MacLeod started. After two scoreless innings, he was charged with six runs (2 earned) in the third inning. In all, he went 2 2/3 innings and allowed five hits and four walks. Juan Mendez got the final out of the third inning and then worked two more scoreless frames. He had five strikeouts. Rafael Marcano gave up two runs on two hits and two walks in his inning. Finally, Sheldon Reed gave up two runs on one hit and two walks over two innings. The Kernels offense didn’t do much. In the fifth inning, a Ricardo Olivar single drove in Agustin Ruiz. In the ninth inning, Jay Harry knocked a two-run homer. Harry was the team’s leadoff hitter. He went 2-for-3 with two walks and the homer was his fourth of the season. Kevin Maitan went 2-for-3 with a walk. Former Twins first-round pick Noah Miller led off for Great Lakes. He went 2-for-4 with a walk and a home run. The 21-year-old was the Twins Competitive Balance pick after the first round in the 2021 draft. After this game, he is now hitting .249/.336/.369 (.705) with eight doubles and six home runs. Last year with the Kernels, he hit .223/.309/.340 (.649) with 20 doubles, five triples and eight home runs. In March, he went to the Dodgers in exchange for OF Manuel Margot infielder Rayne Doncon who was recently promoted to the Kernels. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers 9, Tampa 3 Box Score The Mussels scored three runs in the first inning, three more in the second inning, and then scored a combined three runs in the eighth and ninth innings. Jair Camargo, making another rehab start, led the offense. He went 3-for-4 with a double. He also worked behind the plate in the game. Walker Jenkins went 2-for-4 with a walk in this game, his first two hits of the season. He had a double, scored two runs and drove in two runs. The Mussels also got some solid performances on the mound. Ty Langenberg gave up one run on four hits and two walks over five innings. He had four strikeouts. Danny Moreno was charged with two unearned runs in the sixth inning. Ricky Castro came on and struck out four batters over three scoreless innings to record his first Save. In the first inning, Byron Chourio led off by reaching on an error. Then Jenkins singled. Camargo drove in a run with a single. Then Brandon Winokur drove in two runs with another single. In the second inning, Isaac Pena walked and stole second. Yohander Martinez singled him in. Following a Chourio walk, Jenkins knocked in two runs with a double. Gregory Duran knocked his third home run of the season to give the Mussels a 7-3 lead in the eighth. They added two more in the ninth inning on a Rixon Wingrove single. COMPLEX CHRONICLES DSL Twins 1, DSL Nationals 2 Box Score The Dominican Summer League schedule began on Monday. In fact, these two teams started on Monday. However, after two-and-a-half innings, the rains came and it was delayed. They completed the game on Wednesday. Anderson Chacon got the start on Monday. He went two innings and gave up a hit and a walk, but no runs. Melvin Rodriguez took over when the game resumed. He gave up two runs on four hits over 3 1/3 innings. He walked two and struck out five batters. Anderson Ramos got the final two outs of the sixth inning, one on a strikeout. The Twins managed just four hits in the game. Romiro Dominguez, Yandro Hernandez, Luis Rodriguez, and Davirik Fuenmayor each had a single. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day - Jay Harry (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-3, 2 BB, HR(4), R, 2 RBI. Pitcher of the Day – Caleb Boushley (St. Paul) - 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 8 K, 78 pitches, 53 strikes (68.0%) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on the Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Wednesday. #1 - Walker Jenkins (Fort Myers) - 2-for-4, BB, 2B(1), 2 R, 2 RBI #2 - Brooks Lee (St. Paul) - Game 2: 1-for-3, BB, RBI (rehab in FM, DHd) #3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (Wichita) - 2-for-2, 2B(12), R (left with injury) #8 - Austin Martin (St. Paul) - 1-for-3, BB, R, SB(3) #9 - Luke Keaschall (Wichita) - 1-for-4, 2B(2), R #10 - Brandon Winokur (Fort Myers) - 1-for-4, BB, RBI, SB(11) #13 - Tanner Schobel (Wichita) - 1-for-3, BB, 2B(9), R, RBI, K. (played 3B) #18 – Yunior Severino (St. Paul) - 0-for-4, 2 K #20 – Ricardo Olivar (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-5, 2 K (DHd) THURSDAY’S SCHEDULE AND PITCHING PROBABLES Syracuse @ St. Paul (DH @ 5:07 PM CST) - RHP Adam Plutko (0-1, 4.26 ERA), RHP Louie Varland (2-4, 4.30 ERA) Wichita @ NW Arkansas (DH @ 4:05 PM CST) - RHP Jarret Whorff (0-2, 3.80 ERA), LHP Aaron Rozek (1-3, 1.43 ERA) Cedar Rapids @ Great Lakes (6:05 PM CST) - RHP Darren Bowen (2-2, 4.74 ERA) Fort Myers @ Tampa (5:30 PM CST) - RHP Tanner Hall (0-0, 2.45 ERA) FCL Twins @ FCL Braves (11:00 AM CST) - TBD DSL Twins @ DSL Tigers 2 (10:00 AM CST) - TBD Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Wednesday’s games or any other Twins minor league topics! View full article

On Monday, June 3rd, the DSL Twins season was set to get underway. They did get started, but the game was suspended by inclement weather. Here is a look at the roster on Opening Day. Obviously this is a long way from the big leagues, so it's harder to know a ton about the players. I'll try to provide a little bit, but hopefully this forum thread will be a place where we can learn a bunch about them via scouting reports, highlights, video or more. Several of this group were kids signed in January or since then... some from the previous year. Pitchers Nestor Cafe: 11/6/2005 RHP 6-4, Aaron Carranza: 7/11/2005, RHP, 6-2 Enyer Cepeda: 10/27/2006, RHP, 5-9 Anderson Chacon: 9/5/2005, RHP, 5-11 Manuel Compres: 7/9/2005, RHP 6-4 Eudy Garcia: 3/14/2005, RHP, 6-6 Cristian Hernandez: 1/8/2005, RHP, 6-1 Fabian Herrera: 6/5/2005, RHP, 6-4 Daniel Manzueta: 2/22/2006, RHP, 6-1 Sebastian Pulido: 3/9/2006, RHP, 6-2 Anderson Ramos: 4/24/2006, RHP, 6-1 Melvin Rodriguez: 2/27/2006: RHP, 6-2 Santiago Rojas: 4/8/2007, RHP, 6-0 Leonardo Rondon: 5/17/2007, RHP, 5-10 Yoel Roque: 1/21/2007, RHP, 6-2 Jeicol Surumay: 1/9/2006, RHP, 6-3 Ledwin Tavares: 3/1/05, RHP, 6-2 Jose Vasquez: 12/12/04, RHP, 6-4 Aiberson Ventura: 11/23/2005, RHP, 6-4 Ramiro Villanueva: 5/14/2006, RHP, 6-0 Catchers Victor Leal: 9/29/2006 Irvin Nunez: 2/21/2006 Carlos Silva: 3/1/2006 ($1.1 million signing bonus in 2023, #31 by Pipeline, #23 by BA) Infielders Daiber De Los Santos: 10/6/2006 (Signed for $1.9 million, #8 ranked by MLB Pipeline) Ramiro Dominguez: 3/26/2007 Alver Medina: 2/11/2007 Luis Rodriguez: 3/6/2007 Guillermo Sosa: 1/29/2007 Nestor Urbina: 6/13/2007 Ruben Velazquez: 7/24/2007 Outfielders Eduardo Beltre: 10/10/2006 (Signed for $1.5 Million, #39 ranked by MLP Pipeline) Luis Fragoza: 10/26/2006 Davirik Fuenmayor: 5/1/2007 Yandro Hernandez: 5/13/2005 Merphy Hernandez: 12/12/2006 Ricardo Perez: 4/14/2007

Yennier Cano?

My assumption (or, educated guess?) is that on Tuesday Royce will be back with the Twins, Lee will head back to St. Paul and Jenkins will join the Mussels. Based on absolutely nothing but timelines and such.

St. Paul and Wichita both fell short again in losses. Fort Myers got a sweep against Bradenton while the FCL Twins offense showed up ready to go. Who hit? Who pitched? Image courtesy of William Parmeter CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 32-26 St. Paul Saints: 24-31 Wichita Wind Surge: 19-30 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 30-19 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 23-27 FCL Twins: 13-7 Let’s get to the report. As always, please feel free to discuss and ask questions. TRANSACTIONS Saints catcher Jair Camargo began a rehab assignment in the FCL. The Cedar Rapids Kernels placed RHP C.J. Culpepper on the 7-Day Injured List with a right forearm strain. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 8, Rochester 11 Box Score The Twins current and previous Triple-A affiliates went back and forth in this one right from the start. The Saints scored four in the top of the first inning, but the Red Wings responded with three in the bottom of the inning. They added single runs in the second and fourth frames before putting a five-spot on the board in the fifth inning. St. Paul scored four runs in the eighth inning, but the comeback fell short. In the top of the first inning, following walks to Austin Martin and Matt Wallner, Michael Helman doubled in Martin. Wallner scored on an infield single by Tony Kemp. Two batters later, Chris Williams drove in two runs with a single. Things were pretty quiet until the top of the eighth inning. After a single by Yoyner Fajardo and a walk by Anthony Prato, Martin drove in Fajardo with a single. Wallner followed with a three-run homer, his eighth since joining the Saints. What a day for Michael Helman! He went 4-for-5 with three doubles in the game. Martin went 2-for-4 with a walk. Fajardo went 2-for-4 with a walk. David Festa started and went the first four innings. He was charged with five runs on six hits. He walked three and struck out five batters. Jeff Brigham was charged with three runs in 2/3 of an inning. He had three walks. Scott Blewett gave up two runs on two hits and a walk in 1 1/3 innings. Ronny Henriquez worked the final two innings and gave up a run on one hit and one walk. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 2, Springfield 8 Box Score Pierson Ohl has been really good of late for Wichita, but Saturday’s start didn’t go so well. However, he still was able to give his team six innings. He was charged with six runs on nine hits. He had one walk and one strikeouts. John Stankiewicz came in and gave up two runs on four hits in 1 2/3 innings. He had one strikeout. Austin Brice got the final four outs of the game. He had a walk, but the outs all came on strikeouts. The Wind Surge had just six hits and three walks in the game. Aaron Sabato went 2-for-4 with his second home run. Jorel Ortega had two walks. Andrew Cossetti hit his 10th double. Emmanuel Rodriguez was again out of the Wind Surge lineup. He had not played since last Sunday. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 3, Lake County 11 Box Score Lake County scored 10 runs in the top of the first. However, if you want a positive, after that half-inning, the Kernels outscored them 3-1. Jeremy Lee started for the Kernels. He faced seven batters. He gave up seven runs on three hits, two walks, and two hit batters. Already at 32 pitches (14 strikes), Jose Mercedes came into the game. He allowed an inherited runner to score and was charged with three more runs on four hits. He had four strikeouts. He needed 31 pitches to get through the first inning, so his day was done as well. Again, after that, things went OK. Jay Harry led off the bottom of the first inning with his third home run of the season. AJ Labas gave up one run over four innings. Juan Mendez struck out four batters over two scoreless innings. Sheldon Reed had two strikeouts over two scoreless innings. Facing #OldFriend Steven Hajjar, Nate Baez scored on a Rubel Cespedes single for the Kernels’ second run. In the eighth inning, Misael Urbina scored on a ground out by Kyle Hess. He had advanced to third base on an Agustin Ruiz double. Cespedes went 2-for-3 with two walks and his 12th double. Baez was 2-for-4. In the bottom of the ninth, Dalton Shuffield was called out on strikes and immediately ejected. MUSSEL MATTERS Game 1: Fort Myers 3, Bradenton 1 Box Score These teams had their Thursday game postponed due to weather. It was made up in the first game of Saturday’s double header. On the mound for the Mussels was lefty Ross Dunn. He gave up an unearned run in the first inning and then tossed two scoreless innings. He gave up three hits, walked one and struck out four batters. Ricky Castro came in for his first outing in the Twins organization. The first batter he faced reached on catcher’s interference. After that, it was six-up, six-down. In fact, he was credited with his first Win in affiliated ball. If you want to talk about dominance, Nolan Santos came on for the final two innings and recorded his fourth save of the season. He faced six batters and struck out all six of them. When I chatted with Mussels play-by-play voice John Vittas said of Santos, the Twins 7th round pick a year ago from Bethune-Cookman, “Santos has the makings of four really good pitches. His fastball is probably the worst one. It’s only 91-92. But his offspeeds are as polished and consistent as I’ve ever seen at this level. He’s got a curveball, a slider, and a change that are easily distinguishable.” The Mussels’ offense didn’t do much in Game 1 on Saturday. They had just four hits. Fortunately, they were able to bunch a couple of hits, a walk, and a wild pitch with a couple of Marauder errors to score three runs. That accounted for all of the game’s run scoring. Matthew Clayton singled. Gregory Duran walked. Yohander Martinez singled to right field. On the play, Clayton and Duran scored thanks to a throwing error that also sent Martinez to third base. He later scored on a wild pitch. Of the four hits, Rixon Wingrove’s double was the lone extra base hit. Clayton had the final and walked once. Game 2: Fort Myers 8, Bradenton 3 Box Score Unlike Game 1, the Mussels bats were much better in Game 2. They had 10 hits and seven walks in the game. Of the six innings in which they batted, Fort Myers scored in five of them. Poncho Ruiz led the way. He went 3-for-4 with his 10th double and two RBI. He even stole his first base. Payton Eeles was great as the instigator in the leadoff spot. He went 2-for-2 with two walks, two runs scored and two RBI. He even stole two bases. Carlos Aguiar was 2-for-3 in the game with a double. Brandon Winokur was 1-for-2 and had two walks. Charlee Soto was on the mound to start the game. He was charged with three runs on seven hits over just 2 2/3 innings. He had no walks but two strikeouts. Two of the hits were home runs though. Paulshawn Pasqualotto earned his first win by tossing 4 1/3 scoreless innings. He gave up just one hit, walked two and struck out four batters. COMPLEX CHRONICLES FCL Twins 16, FCL Red Sox 6 Box Score In baseball, when your team scores crooked numbers, that is a good thing. On Saturday, that’s just what the FCL Twins did on Saturday. They scored three runs in the first inning and then added seven more in the second innings. They scored one run in the third inning, none in the fourth, and five runs in the fifth inning. In case you were wondering, 37105 is the Zip Code for Lee County, North Carolina, an area of small-ish communities between Raleigh and Fayetteville. All nine Twins starters had at least one hit. All but one starting hitter had at least one walk. Walker Jenkins continued his rehab. In this game, he went 3-for-4 with a walk. Jair Camargo batted second and DHd in his first rehab appearance. He went 2-for-3 with a walk and a double. He was also hit by a pitch. Javier Roman went 2-for-4 with a walk. Anderson Nova launched his first home run of the season, a grand slam in the five-run fifth frame. Harold Grant drove in three runs with a double. He and Yilber Herrera each had two walks in the game. Grant had two stolen bases, and Herrera had one. 16 runs. 16 hits. 10 walks. It’s probably not worth worrying (or even mentioning) that they left nine runners on base and went 6-for-18 with runners in scoring position. On the mound, Dylan Questad had probably his best start. The lanky right-hander gave up one hit over three scoreless innings. He walked three and struck out five batters. Liam Rocha came on and worked the next three innings. He gave up four runs (3 earned) on five hits and two walks. He had two strikeouts. Alejandro Crisotomoro started the seventh inning and gave up two runs. He gave up one hit and walked three batters. In addition, he threw three wild pitches. But he struck out two batters. Wilker Reyes came in to get the final out of the game. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day - Michael Helman (Saints) - 4-for-5, 3-2B(9), R, RBI, SB(8), K. Pitcher of the Day – Nolan Santos (Mighty Mussels) - 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K, 30 pitches, 19 strikes (63.3%) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on the Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Saturday. #1 - Walker Jenkins (Fort Myers) - 3-for-4, BB, 3 R (full game, CF, rehab in FCL) #2 - Brooks Lee (St. Paul) - Game 2: 1-for-3, BB, RBI (rehab in FM, DHd) #4 - David Festa (St. Paul) - 4 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, 83 pitches, 53 strikes (63.9%) #7 - Charlee Soto (Fort Myers) - Game 2 (2.2 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 49 pitches, 36 strikes) #8 - Austin Martin (St. Paul) - 2-for-4, BB, 2 R, RBI #9 - Luke Keaschall (Wichita) - 1-for-4. #10 - Brandon Winokur (Fort Myers) - Game 1 (DNP), Game 2 (1-for-2, 2 BB, 2 R, RBI) #12 - Kala’i Rosario (Wichita) - 0-for-4, 2 K #13 - Tanner Schobel (Wichita) - 1-for-4, R, K. #20 – Ricardo Olivar (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-5, 2 K (DHd) SUNDAY’S SCHEDULE AND PITCHING PROBABLES St. Paul @ Rochester (12:05 PM CST) - RHP Randy Dobnak (3-4, 5.06 ERA) Springfield @ Wichita (1:05 PM CST) - RHP Andrew Morris (0-1, 3.38 ERA) Lake County @ Cedar Rapids (1:05 PM CST) - RHP Miguelangel Boadas (1-3, 6.38 ERA) Bradenton @ Fort Myers (11:05 AM CST) - RHP Spencer Bengard (2-0, 1.31 ERA) Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Saturday’s games or any other Twins minor league topics! 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Love this idea. Should help Paddack work through the year and maintain effectiveness. Can help Festa by getting him through his MLB debut and a couple of starts in June rather than August or September. Paddack could miss two starts. If Festa's doing OK, maybe they continue it and put SWR on the IL for 15 days to keep him strong...

don't respond. Don't respond... Don't respond... Ahhhhh... Le'ts let him play the field for a couple straight games and get back into game mode.

So, how does Keaschall doing well make the two-year-old trade right? Unless they trade Keaschall for Nick Lodolo or something, not sure how it relates.

could be back with the Saints a week or so (sometime around June 3-10th). They certainly aren't going to rush him up from there. Lewis is going to be back. Miranda should stick. Julien's not going anywhere. Correa is at SS. I can't see Lee getting called up until probably August, if at all, unless there is a major injury or two. Austin Martin can play 2B, and if not, he can play LF and CF and Castro can play any of those spots. Keirsey deserves it, but now on IL for hopefully not much more than a week. Maybe if he was right-handed, he'd be an option to replace Margot, but they're not dropping Margot anytime soon. Severino - Both Santana and Kirilloff would have to be out, could platoon with Miranda. It used to always be a thing to guess a September call-up, especially on bad teams. But now that only 2 roster spots open up in September, they aren't going to just call anyone up to call anyone up. They'll just use the two spots to rotate guys like Funderburk, Alcala, Staumont, Castillo, Varland over the summer and in September. E-Rod isn't likely to debut this year. Raya? Probably not. Though I don't care anymore about his workloads. A guy can be valuable at any level if he can do well for four innings at a time. don't expect him to come up yet this year. Festa is a guy that I might call up shortly for 2-3 starts to let a guy like Paddack miss 2-3 starts, and allow the other pitchers or other guys can skip a start or even just give some other guys an extra day or two.

I don't think any of those are terribly surprising... The reduction in # of players in an organization's minor league system is definitely altering things. Not totally sure how yet. I think all these indy league guys they're signing are part of it. I also think that there have been so many prospect injuries and several of them are starting to come back too.

Not sure if you have seen the new minor league report, but Keirsey went on the IL with a left calf strain. Love the com that has been mentioned. If Austin Martin can become what Chris Taylor has been in his career (until this year), that is an absolute win!

I'd add this too... Rose is mentioned in the Hall. He is acknowledged as the all-time hits leader. There are plenty pieces of his memorabilia in the Hall of Fame. He shouldn't get into the Hall of Fame... but he should be (and is!) recognized for aspects of his career.

Eight Men Out is such a great movie, and if it's factual, and Jackson did take money, and he did agree to it, then he shouldn't be in the HOF. Likewise, Rose literally bet on his own team's games as a manager. Absolutely can impact the game. I've heard some talk about how Rose should be in the HOF now for a couple of reasons. The big reason given is because MLB is totally promoting the betting sites. Bally's. Daily Sports betting. It's becoming legal in more and more states. But again, all that has nothing to do with the fact that Rose broke the rule that everyone knew the punishment.

Also, love The Monkees so much. The TV show was great. All of their music is amazing... And, in that song, I loved how it started out with some of the most mundane day-to-day activities: Oh, I could hide 'neath the wings of the bluebird as she sings. The six o'clock alarm would never ring. But it rings, and I rise Wipe the sleep out of my eyes. My shaving razor's cold, and it stings. Seriously, a great, popular classic song with a verse thinking what I think every morning... I don't want to get out from under my blankets. The alarm clock (or now alarm photo) noise options are so annoying, so I dread it going off. But it does! Uggh, and after hitting snooze, I eventually do wake up (mostly cuz I have to let the dog out... which answers that music question too). Would much rather go to sleep. So tired! Now granted, I don't shave ever with a razor, but I can imagine it would be cold... and since I take so long in between, there are tons of cuts and nicks, which really sting!

Cheer up, sleepy @mikelink45, Oh what can it mean, to a day dream believer and a homecoming queen...

For Vlad Guerrero?? He's a solid player. Hasn't been a great player since his one great year. He's very solid, and could help, but $19.9 million this year and another raise next year? The only reason they should give up anything more than Gabriel Gonzalez (if they even have to do that) is to try to get Toronto to eat some of his salary this year and next.

I don't think that's true. His ability to play all three outfield positions, plus play 1B, plus be an on-base machine that would have been fun to team with Luis Arraez at the top of the order. The Twins have had injuries to all three outfield positions and 1B since that time.

Without any sort of research, I would venture to guess that Jake Cave's career with the Twins organization is better than like 90% of players acquired for a lottery ticket from the DSL. The LaMonte Wade for Shaun Anderson trade was a FAR worse trade.

The Saints got an early lead and a very efficient pitching performance from their staff on Wednesday. Wichita found itself in a pitchers' duel, but a top prospect helped the team to a win in grand style. Cedar Rapids had some chances to make a big comeback but fell short. The same can be said in Fort Myers where the Mussels had great chances in each of the final three innings. Find out all that happened in the Twins minor league system on Wednesday. Image courtesy of Ed Bailey, Wichita Wind Surge There were some big, huge home runs on Wednesday in the Twins minor leagues, but there was also some really good pitching. CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 28-23 St. Paul Saints: 24-28 Wichita Wind Surge: 19-27 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 28-18 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 20-27 FCL Twins: 11-6 Let’s get to the report. As always, please feel free to discuss and ask questions. TRANSACTIONS The Saints placed OF DaShawn Keirsey on the 7-Day IL with a left calf strain. 2B/OF Yoyner Fajardo was activated from the development list. Wichita placed RHP Zebby Matthews on the Development List. The Twins signed 24-year-old RHP Ricky Garcia from the independent Joliet Slammers. An Illinois native, he spent three seasons at Purdue (2020-22) and then spent a year at Tulane. He went undrafted and pitched for Joliet in 2023. He had made three appearances with Joliet this year before signing with the Twins earlier this week. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 5, Rochester 0 Box Score The Saints got off to a fast start, and they got a nice start, and some terrific bullpen work on Wednesday night in The Rochester. With one out in the first inning, Michael Helman singled. Matt Wallner followed with a walk. Clean-up hitter Yunior Severino then hit a three-run homer. Adam Plutko had a nice 3-0 lead before he even took the mound, but he did quite well too. The veteran tossed four scoreless innings. He gave up just two hits, walked none and struck out four batters. And, he did so on just 45 pitches. “Efficiency” or “Efficient” is a good word to describe the Saints pitchers in this game. Jeff Brigham made his first appearance since coming off of the IL. He needed 12 pitches to work a perfect fifth inning. Ronny Henriquez gave up two hits, walked one and struck out two batters over two scoreless innings. He did so on 29 pitches. Scott Blewett used 25 pitches to work the final two innings. Combined, the Saints pitchers needed just 111 pitches for a nine-inning shutout. In the sixth inning, Alex Isola hit a solo homer to make it 4-0. The following inning, Austin Martin and Wallner worked walks and Severino drove in Martin with the fifth run of the game. Severino led the way. He was 2-for-5 with four RBI. His home run was his eighth of the season. Isola’s home run was his fifth in a Saints uniform. Helman was also 2-for-5. Wallner had a double to go with two walks. Austin Martin walked twice in the game. In nine games since he was optioned to St. Paul, this was the first time he didn’t have at least one hit. Over those nine games, he is 10-for-29 (.345) with 11 walks to just one strikeout. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 4, Springfield 2 Box Score This was quite the pitchers’ duel between Wind Surge lefty Jaylen Nowlin and Cardinals’ prospect Ian Bedell. Bedell game up just two hits and two walks and struck out nine batters through seven innings. Nowlin gave up two hits and walked three over 5 2/3 scoreless innings. He had two strikeouts. He also picked off a baserunner at first base. Austin Brice came in with the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth inning, but got the final out. He then worked a scoreless seventh inning despite giving up two hits. He had three strikeouts. Let’s jump to the bottom of the eighth inning. Springfield turned to former Twins pitching prospect Ryan Shreve. With one out, Kyler Fedko doubles. Luke Keaschall hit an infield single. After a strikeout for the inning’s second out, Tanner Schobel walked to load the bases. That brought up Kala’i Rosario who had yet to put a ball in play in the game. He struck out his first two at-bats before walking in his third plate appearance. The Hawaiian fell behind 0-2, but he took two close pitches just off the outside corner at the very bottom of the strike zone. With a 2-2 count, got what appears to be a slider that didn't slide. Rosario did not miss it. He crushed a long home run, a grand slam that turned a scoreless game into a four-run lead for the Surge. Jared Solomon pitched a scoreless top of the eighth and came out for the ninth inning. He started with a strikeout. Then a single… a walk… and another single drove in the first run. 4-1 Surge. The next batter singled to center to cut the lead to 4-2. Taylor Floyd came in and immediately threw a wild pitch. A stolen base put the tying run on second base. But Floyd came through with a strikeout and a soft ground ball toward the first base line that he fielded and tagged out the runner to end the game. The Wind Surge had five hits and three walks in the game. Fedko went 2-for-3 with his fifth double. He also had a great diving catch in center field earlier in the game. Rosario’s huge home run was his fourth of the season. Keaschall went 1-for-3 with a walk. Emmanuel Rodriguez missed his second straight game with what is being deemed a “minor injury.” He is said to be day-to-day. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 4, Lake County 6 Box Score In his previous start, C.J. Culpepper threw six perfect innings. 18 up, 18 down. This start didn’t go as well for the right-hander. In the first innings, the leadoff batter singled. That was followed by another single. After a strikeout, he gave up another single to load the bases. The fifth batter, Jake Fox, followed with a two-run single. After a second strikeout, he got a pop out to end the inning. In the bottom of the first inning, the Kernels cut the lead in half. Jay Harry led off with a single. He stole second and scored on a Rubel Cespedes double. Culpepper responded in the second inning by striking out the three batters he faced. However, with one out in the third innings, he hit a batter and followed that with a walk. Fox reached on a fielder’s choice/error to load the bases. A two-run single by Jose Devers was followed with an RBI groundout that made it 5-1 Lake County. Culpepper got through the third inning but was replaced by Rafael Marcano in the fourth. The lefty Rule 5 pick gave up a hit and two walks but struck out two over two scoreless innings. A.J. Labas came in and tossed two scoreless innings as well. It took a bit, but the Kernels did try to make a comeback. In the bottom of the sixth inning, Ricardo Olivar hit a solo home run, his sixth of the season to cut the deficit to 5-2. In the eighth inning, Dillon Tatum hit a one-out home run, his second of the season.That was followed by singles from Harry and Olivar. After a pitching change, Cespedes walked to load the bases. Agustin Ruiz grounded out to score Harry from third and make it a 5-4 game. That is as close as the game got. Jacob Wosinski pitched a scoreless eighth inning, but he gave up one run in the ninth for the final score of 6-4. Harry played center field and went 2-for-4. Olivar was 2-for-4 with the home run. Cespedes’s double was his 11th. Rayne Doncon hit his second Kernels double, his 15th overall this season. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers 2, Bradenton 3 Box Score When you hear the phrase “just one bad pitch,” it is used when a team loses because of a home run that was the difference in the game, and the cliche could be used in this scenario, if you wanted. Of course, it’s not a truth, especially in a game in which the Mussels pitches combined for seven walks. But one pitch was the difference in this game, in a way. We’ll get to that. In the third inning, Payton Eeles hit a solo home run to give the Mussels a 1-0 lead. The home run was majestic, launched at an angle of 43 degrees. 21-year-old Jose Olivares was on the mound to start for Fort Myers. He tossed four innings and gave up just one hit. He had four strikeouts but also three walks. Jack Noble threw two scoreless innings, but then the top of the seventh started with back-to-back singles. After a sacrifice bunt advanced runners to second and third, Braylon Bishop came to the plate. Noble fell behind 2-0 on a slider and a changeup… Then Bishop did what Bishop should have done with a 92-mph fastball right over the middle of the plate. He hit the ball 101.6 mph at a 34 degree launch angle and it landed well beyond the outfield fencing. Down 3-1 in the bottom of the seventh inning, the Mussels attempted a comeback. Two walks and a wild pitch left runners on second and third with one out. After a strikeout, another walk loaded the bases, but a strikeout ended that threat. In the bottom of the eighth inning, the rehabbing Brooks Lee singled. He advanced to third base on a Brandon Winokur double. After a strikeout, Rixon Wingrove drove in Lee with a ground out to make it 3-2. Then in the bottom of the ninth, the Mussels had a runner on and one out. Eeles singled and Lee walked to load the bases with one out. Unfortunately, the game ended on a double hitter. Lefty Samuel Perez did a nice job out of the bullpen. He gave up one hit and walked one batter but tossed 2 2/3 scoreless innings. He had five strikeouts. Eeles was 2-for-4 with a walk. The homer was his second. Lee DHd and went 2-for-4 with a walk. He also stole a base. Winokur’s doubles was his 12th of the season. Both teams had opportunities to do much more damage. Bradenton went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left nine on base. The Mussels were 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left 10 runners on base. The difference in the game was, to some degree, the one bad pitch. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day - Yunior Severino (Saints) - 2-for-5, HR(8), R, 4 RBI, 2 K. Pitcher of the Day – Jaylen Nowlin (Wind Surge) - 5.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, HBP, 2 K, 86 pitches, 44 strikes (51.2%) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on the recently-updated Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Saturday. #2 - Brooks Lee (St. Paul) - 2-for-4, BB, R, SB(1) (DH, Rehab in FM) #8 - Austin Martin (St. Paul) - 0-for-3, 2 BB, R, #9 - Luke Keaschall (Wichita) - 1-for-3, BB, R, K, #10 - Brandon Winokur (Fort Myers) - 1-for-5, 2B(12), K #12 - Kala’i Rosario (Wichita) - 1-for-3, BB, HR(4), R, 4 RBI, 2 K. #13 - Tanner Schobel (Wichita) - 0-for-3, BB, R #18 – Yunior Severino (St. Paul) - 2-for-5, HR(8), R, 4 RBI, 2 K. #19 - C.J. Culpepper (Cedar Rapids) - 3 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 1 HBP, 5 K, 53 pitches, 39 strikes (73.6%) #20 – Ricardo Olivar (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-4, HR(6), R, RBI, K THURSDAY’S SCHEDULE AND PITCHING PROBABLES St. Paul @ Rochester (10:05 AM CST) - RHP Jordan Balazovic (2-2, 5.40 ERA) Springfield @ Wichita (7:05 PM CST) - RHP Travis Adams (2-3, 5.14 ERA) Lake County @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 PM CST) - LHP Christian MacLeod (0-0, 2.89 ERA) Bradenton @ Fort Myers (11:00 AM CST) - LHP Cesar Lares (1-1, 2.31 ERA) FCL Orioles @ FCL Twins (11:00 AM CST) - TBD Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Wednesday’s games or any other Twins minor league topics! View full article