Seth Stohs

The Saints and Wind Surge have both had difficult seasons, filled with ups and downs. Despite a couple more L's, each team provided some highlights and performances worth watching. Image courtesy of Ed Bailey, Wichita Wind Surge (photo of Pierson Ohl) CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 78-70 St. Paul Saints: 68-74 Wichita Wind Surge: 55-80 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 67-63 (season complete) Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 66-59 (season complete) FCL Twins: 27-31 (season complete) DSL Twins: 30-25 (season complete) TRANSACTIONS The Twins activated SS Carlos Correa from the IL. To make room, DaShawn Keirsey was optioned to St. Paul. To make room for Keirsey, the Saints put UT Anthony Prato on the Development List. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 3, Columbus 8 Box Score Travis Adams was on the hill to start for the Saints. He completed five innings and was charged with five runs. Jaylen Nowlin came on to start the sixth inning, his Triple-A debut. He gave up three runs (2 earned) on a hit, a walk and two hit batters. He recorded just two outs, so Kyle Bischoff came on and got the final out of that frame, but the team was now down 8-1. Brent Headrick struck out three batters over the final two innings. The Saints scored first in the top of the first inning. Payton Eeles led off with a double and went to third on an Austin Martin single. Eeles then scored when Keirsey grounded into a double play. With two outs in the top of the third, Eeles and Martin were hit by pitches. Keirsey followed with an RBI single. Then with one out in the top of the ninth, Jair Camargo and Diego A. Castillo hit back-to-back doubles. Payton Eeles went 2-for-4, was hit by a pitch and added his 10th Saints double. DaShawn Keirsey returned to the Saints and went 2-for-4 with an RBI. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 2, Tulsa 3 Box Score It’s been a rocky, up-and-down season for righty Pierson Ohl. On Saturday, Ohl was the starter for the team's penultimate game of their 2024 season. The Grand Canyon grad tossed six scoreless and had five strikeouts to no walks. Mike Paredes came in and gave up one run over two innings. Miguel Rodriguez struck out three in the ninth inning, but he gave up two unearned runs in between to turn a 2-1 lead into a 3-2 deficit. Wichita got on the scoreboard first with a second-inning run. With one out, Aaron Sabato walked and Tanner Schobel singled him to second. A Jorel Ortega single loaded the bases. The speedy Sabato scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Ben Ross. They added on in the bottom of the fifth frame. Kala’i Rosario was hit by a pitch. With one out, Alex Isola walked. After a pitching change, Andrew Cossetti walked to load the bases. Rosario scored when Sabato worked a walk. The Surge had just five hits in the game, but they also had seven walks and two batters were hit by pitches. Rosario had the lone extra base hit, his 19th double. Unfortunately, they were 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position and left 12 runners on base. PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day - Payton Eeles (St. Paul) - 2-for-4, 2B(10), HBP, 2 R, K. Pitcher of the Day - Pierson Ohl (Wichita) - 6 IP, 6 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 63 pitches, 47 strikeouts (57.3%) 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 (Wichita) – 1-for-5, K, SB(1). #2 – Brooks Lee (Minnesota) – 0-for-2 #15 - Kala’i Rosario (Wichita) - 1-for-4, HBP, 2B(19), R, 2 K. #17 - Tanner Schobel (Wichita) - 1-for-3, BB, K, SB(13). SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS St. Paul @ Columbus (12:05 PM CST) – RHP Randy Dobnak (11-6, 3.87 ERA) Tulsa @ Wichita (1:05 PM CST) – RHP C.J. Culpepper (0-1, 6.19 ERA) - final Surge game of season. Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Saturday’s games! View full article

What about Casey Legumina for Kyle Farmer??

The Saints are scoring plenty of runs. They're just giving up too many runs late in their games. The Wind Surge got a great start from the organization's top minor-league pitcher in 2023 is pitching very, very well again. Image courtesy of Ed Bailey, Wichita Wind Surge (photo of Cory Lewis) CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 78-68 St. Paul Saints: 68-72 Wichita Wind Surge: 56-79 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 67-63 (season complete) Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 66-59 (season complete) FCL Twins: 27-31 (season complete) DSL Twins: 30-25 (season complete) TRANSACTIONS The Twins officially announced that Byron Buxton was being activated from the IL and Austin Martin was optioned to St. Paul. Probably no surprise, but Emmanuel Rodriguez was placed on the 7-Day Injured list with a thumb sprain, the same injury that cost him so much time this season. Most likely, he is done for the season. LHP Jaylen Nowlin was promoted from Wichita to St. Paul. The Twins released LHP Caleb Baragar to make room. Per multiple reports, the Twins have released 2024 sixth-round draft pick Derek Bender. You can read much more about that here. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 7, Columbus 8 Box Score The night after losing in a walkoff, the Saints lost their lead to the Clippers late in the game. The Saints jumped ahead early. Michael Helman hit a solo home run in the top of the first inning. He has hit 14 for the Saints this season. Andrew Morris started for the Saints. He gave up a run in the second and two more in the third. In all, he went five innings. He gave up three runs (2 earned) on five hits. He had three strikeouts and walked none. Down 3-1 through three innings, the Saints scored four runs in the fourth inning. With two outs, Carson McCusker doubled. After Jair Camargo walked, Jeferson Morales singled to make it 3-2. The game was tied when Camargo scored on a Rylan Bannon double. Anthony Prato then drove in two more runs with his 20th double of the season. The Saints made it 6-3 in the top of the sixth. McCusker led off with a walk. Camargo singled him to third. He scored on an infield single by Morales. Kyle Bischoff came in for the bottom of the sixth. He walked the leadoff man who stole second. He advanced to third on a groundout and then scored on a wild pitch to make it 6-4. Zack Weiss got the seventh inning, and he gave up a run on two hits and a walk to cut the lead to 6-5. McCusker led off the top of the eighth inning with another single. With one out, Morales was hit by a pitch. Bannon walked to load the bases. After a line out for the second out, Payton Eeles walked to score McCusker and make it 7-5. Nick Wittgren was brought out for the bottom of the eighth inning. He gave up three runs on two hits and a walk. The big hit was a two-out, three-run homer by Raynel Delgado that put the Clippers ahead 8-7. The Saints were unable to score in the top of the ninth and fell by one run again. Morales went 2-for-2 with a walk and was hit by a pitch. In 13 games with the Saints, he is now hitting .375 with five doubles and a triple. McCusker went 2-for-4 with a walk and double. He scored three runs. In his 16 games since joining the Saints, he is hitting .339 with four doubles, a triple and four home runs. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 0, Tulsa 5 Box Score Tanner Schobel had a single. Noah Cardenas had a walk, and he stole a base. That has been your Wind Surge offense report for the night. Cory Lewis has been pitching really well of late. In this game, he gave up one run on two hits. In six innings, he had two walks and struck out six batters. While his record fell to 2-6, his ERA fell to 2.59. Taylor Floyd came into the game and threw a scoreless seventh inning. However, he hit a batter, gave up a single and walked one to load the bases. With two outs, Jarret Whorff came in and gave up a slow-rolling infield single. Then a single to center scored two and made it 4-0. Noah Miller followed with another single to center to drive in the fifth run. A ground ball ended the inning, but Floyd was charged with four runs, and Whorff gave up one run of his own too. He pitched a scoreless ninth. PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day - Jeferson Morales (St. Paul) - 2-for-2, BB, HBP, R, 2 RBI, SB(14). Pitcher of the Day - Cory Lewis (Wichita) - 6 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 85 pitches, 55 strikeouts (64.7%) 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 (Wichita) – 0-for-4, K. #11 - Andrew Morris (St. Paul) - 5 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 82 pitches, 62 strikes (75.6%) #13 – Cory Lewis (Wichita) – 6 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 85 pitches, 55 strikeouts (64.7%) #15 - Kala’i Rosario (Wichita) - 0-for-4, 2 K. #17 - Tanner Schobel (Wichita) - 1-for-3. FRIDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS St. Paul @ Columbus (6:05 PM CST) – LHP Aaron Rozek (1-5, 6.20 ERA) Tulsa @ Wichita (7:05 PM CST) – RHP Marco Raya (2-4, 4.52 ERA) Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Thursday’s games! View full article

According to ESPNs Jeff Passan and Kiley McDaniel, the Minnesota Twins have released 2024 sixth-round draft pick Derek Bender on Thursday. It might be one of the most wild stories you’ll hear. Image courtesy of William Parmeter Pitch Tipping has always been a thing in baseball. Teams and players, trying to gain an advantage, watch everything a pitcher does on the mound. Maybe a pitcher holds his glove slightly higher when he’s going to throw a curveball. Maybe he slightly slows his delivery on a changeup. You would be surprised at how minute a detail can give a team an advantage. Going back to 2015, the year Torii Hunter returned to the organization for one more season. Paul Molitor was the manager and the two were both seen as among the best in picking up tells from the pitchers. Often, Twins pitchers would go to Hunter or Molitor and have them watch some pitches to see if they might see something that the opponents could pick up on. For decades, it was a source of pride if a team could find a tell by a pitcher and share it with his teammates. Other times, the team will be able to figure out a catcher’s sign pattern and give tiny hints to the hitter from second base about what pitch is coming. Sometimes the first base coach can see it. There were always rumors inside the game that in the late 70s and early 80s, the White Sox used to use a center field camera and the scoreboard features (lights) to pass information from video watcher to batter. Of course, players from those teams, and their manager Tony LaRussa deny such claims. LaRussa went on to manage in Oakland with players who rarely found controversy. It became a controversial topic when the Astros won the World Series with the help of technology and garbage cans. What was different? The use of technology to obtain the information. That is what MLB has tried to crack down on. According to ESPNs Jeff Passan and Kiley McDaniel, the Twins cracked down on pitch tipping in the organization. They released 2024 draft pick Derek Bender about two months after selecting him for tipping pitches. If you aren’t aware, Bender is not a pitcher. He is a catcher, and according to the reports, he was flat-out telling opposing hitters what pitches were coming. If you recall, the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels were playing in Lakeland last week against the Tigers Low-A affiliate. After games were rained out on Wednesday and Thursday, the Mussels needed to win three of the final four games to claim the second-half division title from Lakeland. They played a double-header last Friday. They lost a suspended game. In the second game, Bender was set to bat ninth and catcher Mussels starter, lefty Ross Dunn. Dunn, a 2023 draft pick, went just 1 2/3 innings in that game but the damage had been done. He gave up four runs in the second inning. He gave up five hits and walked a batter. In the first inning, he got a ground out, gave up a double in between two strikeouts. The second inning began with a long home run by Archer Brookman. Jackson Strong singled. After a force out, there was a walk. And then a hard-hit, line-drive double by David Smith drove in two runs. After a ground out, Jack Penney drove in the fourth run with another double. At that point, Dunn was removed from the game. Lakeland scored just two more runs over the course of the game. The Mussels managed just two hits in the entire game, so ultimately it didn’t really affect the outcome. But that alone isn’t proof of anything. Dunn ended his first pro season with an ERA of 6.46. He often gave up big innings. However, it was the Lakeland coaches who approached the Mussels coaching staff after the game and after their players were reporting that the Mussels catcher was flat-out telling them what pitches were coming. From ESPN: “Fort Myers coaches were notified by Lakeland coaches about Bender's pitch tipping after the game, sources said. Bender's willingness to tip pitches surprised Lakeland players, and there were no indications of wrongdoing from the Flying Tigers, sources said. Bender had told teammates he wanted the season to be over, according to sources.” Mussels manager Brian Meyer did not play Bender in the final two games. Instead, he was out in the bullpen. The Mussels won their final two games to go out on a good note, but this has to leave a sour taste in the mouths of a lot of teammates, coaches, and probably players around the game. The Twins drafted Bender in the sixth round of the 2024 draft out of Coastal Carolina. He became an everyday player there as a sophomore in 2023. In 62 games, he hit .341/.399/.635 (1.034) with 13 doubles, 19 homers and 83 RBI. That summer, he played for Bourne in the Cape Cod League. You may remember seeing this video. data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw== In 60 games this spring, Bender hit .320/.422/.520 (.942) with nine doubles, two triples, and 11 home runs. The Twins drafted him and quickly signed him with a $297,500 bonus (right at slot). He went to Fort Myers to begin his pro career. On August 7th, he made his pro debut and went 2-for-4 with a walk in Jupiter. Six days later, against Lakeland, he went 2-for-3 with his first professional home run, a three-run shot. A week later, in Tampa, he went 2-for-3 with a walk. He had two doubles and three RBI. Through his first 11 games, he hit .306/.405/.528 (.933) with two doubles and two home runs. However, over his final eight games, he was 1-for-24 (.042). Last week in Lakeland, he played in three games and went 0-for-7. There’s a reason that teams don’t worry too much about the small sample size of games that current year draft picks put up. Consider that the college kids have been going hard every day since mid-January, played a full 60 game college season, went through the draft combine and other ways to be ready, and then come in and play another series of games. And then many of them stick around for the Bridge League or Instructs. Add in the grueling heat in both Florida and Arizona, and the southwest Florida humidity, and frequent tropical storms and hurricanes. There is just a lot. Part of me wants to give Derek Bender the benefit of the doubt. I would love to hear his side of this story, whatever that may be. I did reach out to Bender and offered a place for him to tell his side, but as of publishing this article, there was no response. From the ESPN article, they reached out to him through his agency and got no comment, and obviously the Twins are going to try to keep it internal… as they should. Part of me wants to say that I understand burnout after a long season. It can be grueling, and frankly, players need their rest. That year is a lot. But others do it. Did Bender have a momentary lapse? Has he been wanting his season to end for a while? Maybe he doesn’t even like playing baseball all that much. Maybe he’s just always been so good at it that he felt obligated to keep going, and it gave him an opportunity in college, but now he’s ready to do something else. That’s OK. We don’t know. What isn’t OK, and obviously what he was released for is quitting on his team. Not only that, but actively helping them lose games. As a teammate, as much as I would want to understand, I would find it hard to have a guy around that you know has actively tried to make your team lose games. Could Bender play again? Probably. I know I tend to believe in second chances. He’s still a very young 21 year old. But if you were one of his teammates, could you ever trust him fully? Would that trust ever come back? Baseball is hard enough that you don’t want every error or every 0-for-4 game to come with additional questions about your effort. So, no, I don’t expect Derek Bender to ever return to the Twins organization. And with the coverage that this story has received, and that it will receive in coming days, I can’t imagine any other MLB team to give him an opportunity either. If he ever does want to get into baseball, it may have to be by going through the independent leagues (if they are even interested). That’s the route that two of his Coastal Carolina teammates had to go. Fellow 2023 Chanticleers, Payton Eeles and Nick Lucky, were signed by the Twins earlier this season. Lucky spent five years in Conway (SC). Since signing with the Twins, he has played in Fort Myers, Cedar Rapids and even a game in St. Paul. Eeles? Well, since signing with the Twins very early this year, he has hit .307 with a .919 OPS between Fort Myers (34 games), Cedar Rapids (13), and St. Paul (54). The Twins did the right thing in releasing Bender. Hopefully Bender won’t find himself regretting this and asking himself What If for the next couple of decades? View full article

1.) Because Baseball is Hard. 2.) They rushed him. Out of necessity, but he missed just over two months, and he didn't get a ton of time in St. Paul before he came up the first time. Same with this time off the IL. 3.) MLB Pitchers are good.

These minor league reports don't take as long to write with just two affiliates still playing. I miss the days of reporting on six Twins affiliates. Image courtesy of Ed Bailey (photo of Alex Isola) CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 78-68 St. Paul Saints: 68-71 Wichita Wind Surge: 56-78 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 67-63 (season complete) Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 66-59 (season complete) FCL Twins: 27-31 (season complete) DSL Twins: 30-25 (season complete) TRANSACTIONS The Twins activated catcher Christian Vazquez from the Paternity List and OF Manuel Margot from the Injured List. To make room, the team optioned catcher Jair Camargo and utilityman Michael Helman. Following the Twins win on Wednesday night against the Angels, it was announced that the Twins plan to activate OF Byron Buxton from the IL. OF Austin Martin was optioned to St. Paul after the game. Of note, DaShawn Keirsey remains on the roster. LHP Steven Okert was activated from the temporarily inactive list. OF Maddux Houghton was reassigned to the Mighty Mussels a day after being placed on the Saints roster. RHP Ricardo Velez was placed on the 7-Day Injured List. RHP Miguel Rodriguez was activated from the 7-Day IL. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 6, Columbus 7 Box Score The Saints jumped to a big lead, but it slowly dwindled and they lost in a walkoff in Ohio. Caleb Boushley and Ryan Webb both put up three zeroes to start the game. However, in the top of the fourth inning, Carson McCusker’s fourth Saints home run gave the team a 1-0 lead. McCusker just hits the ball incredibly hard when he makes contact! St. Paul added four runs in the top of the fifth inning. Anthony Prato led off with a single. Payton Eeles followed with another single. Diego A. Castillo was next, and he hit his ninth home run of the season to give the team a 4-0 lead. With one out, Michael Helman walked. After a pitching change and a second out, Jeferson Morales and Rylan Bannon singled to score Helman and make it 5-0. Bousley threw a fourth zero on the board, but then in the fifth inning, he gave up three runs which cut the lead to 5-3. His final line showed that he gave up three runs on four hits and a walk in 4 2/3 innings. Jeff Brigham got the final out of the fifth inning and had a perfect sixth inning as well. Three of the four outs he recorded were on strikeouts. The Clippers brought James Karinchak into the top of the seventh inning. McCusker singled and Morales walked. Then with two outs, Prato walked to load the bases. And then Eeles walked to score McCusker and give the Saints a 6-3 lead. Giovanny Gallegos came in for the bottom of the seventh and gave up a walk and a single but no runs. Hobie Harris got the bottom of the eighth. However, he gave up two groundball singles and a 403 foot home run to Micah Pries that tied the game at 6-6. He actually loaded up the bases on a single and two more walks but was able to keep it tied going to the ninth. The Saints went quietly in the top of the ninth. Diego Castillo was brought in to try to send it to extra innings. He got the first two outs, but Johnathan Rodriguez hit his 25th home run to end the game. At the top of the lineup, Eeles went 2-for-2 with three walks. He also stole his 14th base. Castillo went 2-for-4 with a walk and his ninth home run and 13th stolen base. McCusker went 2-for-5 with his 19th overall homer of the 2024 season. Morales went 2-for-4 with a walk and his fifth Saints double. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 3, Tulsa 5 Box Score A five-run fourth inning by Tulsa was more than the Wind Surge could overcome. Christian MacLeod started the game with three scoreless innings. However, he ended up giving up five runs on six hits and three walks in four innings. He struck out two batters. Aside from that fourth frame, Wichita pitching was strong. Mike Paredes struck out three batters over two scoreless innings. John Stankiewicz struck out two batters over two scoreless innings. Miguel Rodriguez pitched a scoreless ninth. In the bottom of the fourth, Kala’i Rosario hit a solo homer, his eighth of the season. The score remained 5-1 until the bottom of the ninth inning. Rosario led off with a walk. With one out, Alex Isola doubled to drive him in. Aaron Sabato scored Isola with an RBI single to make it 5-3. But that’s as close as it got. Wichita had just five hits and two walks in the game. Sabato was 2-for-4. Rosario had a walk to go with his home run. Isola had a walk to go with his double. After playing several games against the Kernels for Great Lakes earlier this season, former Twins prospect Noah Miller played in his 32nd game for the Dodgers’ Double-A affiliate in Tulsa. In this game, he had two doubles in four at-bats. Overall, he’s hitting .224/.258/.264 (.522) with five doubles in Tulsa. In 101 games for Great Lakes, he hit .251/.336/.332 (.668) with 14 doubles and six home runs. PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day - Payton Eeles (St. Paul) - 2-for-2, 3 BB, R, RBI, SB(14). Pitcher of the Day - Jeff Brigham (St. Paul) - 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K. 19 pitches, 13 strikes (68.4%) 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 (Wichita) – 0-for-4. #2 – Brooks Lee (Minnesota) – 2-for-4. 2B(4), 2 RBI #3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - 0-for-1, K (left game in 2nd inning) #5 – Zebby Matthews (Minnesota) – 3.1 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 61 pitches, 40 strikes (65.6%) #15 - Kala’i Rosario (Wichita) - 1-for-3, BB, HR(8), 2 R, RBI, 2 K. #17 - Tanner Schobel (Wichita) – 0-for-4, 4 K. THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS St. Paul @ Columbus (5:15 PM CST) – RHP Andrew Morris (1-0, 3.04 ERA) Tulsa @ Wichita (7:05 PM CST) – RHP Cory Lewis (2-5, 2.70 ERA) Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Wednesday’s games! View full article

Six more games, the challenge of a new level... but I don't think this tells us where he begins 2025. He could go back to Cedar Rapids for a bit, or he could start in Wichita.

The Saints had a big inning and held on. The Surge got great pitching but no offense in a pitchers' duel. There was an unlikely final score in Cedar Rapids in another pitchers' duel. Out of playoff contention, the Mussels returned to the Win column. Image courtesy of Rob Thompson, St. Paul Saints Doesn't it seem like the minor-league season just started? On Sunday, the Mighty Mussels and Kernels will play their final games of the 2024 season. The Wind Surge have one more week, so it will be interesting to see if any Kernels or Mussels head there to get another week of playing time. The Saints will have two more weeks of games. CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 76-66 St. Paul Saints: 66-70 Wichita Wind Surge: 55-76 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 67-62 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 65-59 FCL Twins: 27-31 (season complete) DSL Twins: 30-25 (season complete) TRANSACTIONS Trevor Richards was placed on the Temporary Inactive List with the Saints. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 8, Iowa 6 Box Score The Saints scored six runs in the second inning to take the lead. They added on a couple and found a way to hang on at the end. The second inning began with a Carson McCusker single. He was forced out at second on a Jair Camargo grounder. Chris Williams walked, and Patrick Winkel singled to drive in Camargo with the first run. Rylan Bannon drove in Williams with his 19th double. Payton Eeles reached on a fielder’s choice. Diego A. Castillo walked to load the bases. That was followed by an inside-the-park grand slam by Emmanuel Rodriguez. That’s a fun way to finish out a six-run inning. Aaron Rozek made the start for the Red Wings. He made it a Quality Start. He was charged with three runs on six hits and two walks over six innings. He had seven strikeouts on his way to his first Saints Win! Nick Wittgren gave up one run on three hits over two innings. He had four strikeouts and a walk. Hobie Harris gave up two runs in the ninth inning but got the third out with the Saints still winning. Payton Eeles hit his fifth Saints homer in the fourth inning to make it 7-1. In the sixth inning, Bannon hit a one-out triple and scored on an Eeles single. That gave them an 8-2 lead. Eeles led the way. He was 3-for-5 with his ninth double and fifth home run. He is hitting .302 with a .909 OPS. He also stole his 13th base. Bannon hit his 19th double and second triple. Williams was 1-for-2 with two walks. Rodriguez was 1-for-3 with two walks and his first Saints home run. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 0, Frisco 1 Box Score This game truly was a pitchers’ duel. Pierson Ohl was terrific, but he gave up a first-inning solo home run to Alejandro Osuna. He went 5 2/3 innings and gave up just one run on three hits. He had six strikeouts with no walks. Regi Grace came on and got four outs. Ricardo Velez got the final three outs. Unfortunately, the Wind Surge went scoreless and had just three hits and three walks. The 15 strikeouts by Wind Surge hitters didn’t help. Jacob deGrom started for the RoughRiders and gave up just one hit over four scoreless innings. He had five strikeouts. Kyler Fedko’s 14th double was the lone base runner the team got against deGrom. Alex Isola and Jake Rucker each hit a single. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 11, Wisconsin 0 Box Score This was quite the pitchers’ duel in eastern Iowa on Saturday night. Wisconsin starter Tyler Wehrle threw five scoreless innings. Connor Prielipp started for the Kernels. In three innings, he gave up zero runs, zero hits, and he walked zero. Of the 10 batters he faced, he recorded six strikeouts. Ricky Castro came in and tossed six scoreless innings. He gave up four hits, walked one, and he had eight strikeouts. In the bottom of the seventh, Kevin Maitan drove in Agustin Ruiz with his 13th double. That gave the Kernels a 1-0 lead which proved to be all they needed on this night. However, just for fun, they decided to put a 10-spot on the board in the bottom of the eighth which made it look much worse than it really was. Kaelen Culpepper and Rayne Doncon began the inning with singles. Nate Baez followed with a single to center that drove in Culpepper. After a line out, Kevin Maitan singled to load the bases. Jose Salas lined a single to right to make it 3-0 Kernels. Kyle Ness reached on an error. With the bases still loaded, Walker Jenkins singled to center to drive in three runs. Culpepper followed with a triple that scored Jenkins and made it 8-0. After Doncon reached on another fielding error, Baez launched a two-run home run to make it 10-0. Baez went 2-for4 with a walk. The homer was his 12th of the season. Maitan and Salas were both 2-for-4. Culpepper went 2-for-5 with his first triple. Jenkins was hit by a pitch and had a walk to go with his three-run single. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers 5, Lakeland 4 Box Score The Mussels remained in playoff contention until Friday night. They were able to hang on for a one-run win in their penultimate game of the season. The Mussels took the early lead with three runs in the top of the second inning. Jay Thomason led off the inning with a walk and moved to second on a passed ball. He scored on a single by Caden Kendle. Back-to-back walks by Byron Chourio and Angel Del Rosario loaded the bases. Kyle DeBarge grounded to shortstop, but the ball was booted and made it 2-0. Khadim Diaw grounded back to the mound, there was a force out at second, but the Twins 3rd round pick beat the throw to first which allowed the third run to score. Adrian Bohorquez started and tossed three scoreless innings. He gave up one hit, walked one and had four strikeouts. Devin Kirby came in for the fourth inning and gave up three runs on three hits and two walks in the inning. Cleiber Maldonado tossed two scoreless innings. He gave up two hits and had two strikeouts. Jack Noble came on and gave up one run over the final three innings to record the save. He gave up four hits, but struck out five batters without issuing a walk. In the top of the sixth inning, the Mussels reclaimed the lead. With one out, DeBarge tripled and scored on a Brandon Winokur single. The added an insurance run in the top of the ninth inning, which proved to be important. With one out, Daniel Pena reached on an error. Thomason doubled him to third, and Kendle drove him in. The Mussels scored their five runs on seven hits and nine walks (and two hit by pitches). Kendle was 2-for-5. Thomason hit his first career double and walked twice. Diaw walked once and was hit by a pitch. The team was just 3-for-14 with runners in scoring position and left 12 runners on base. PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day - Payton Eeles (St. Paul) - 3-for-5, 2B(9), HR(5), 2 R, 2 RBI, SB(13). Pitcher of the Day - Connor Prielipp/Ricky Castro (Cedar Rapids) - 9 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 14 K, 120 pitches, 89 strikes (74.2%) 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-3, BB, HBP, R, 3 RBI. #2 – Brooks Lee (Minnesota) – 0-for-4. K (SS) #3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - 1-for-3, 2 BB, HR(1), R, 4 RBI, K. #7 – Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids) – 0-for-5, K #9 - Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-5, 3B(1), 2 R, RBI, 2 K. #12 – Brandon Winokur (Fort Myers) – 1-for-3, BB, RBI, K. #15 - Kala’i Rosario (Wichita) - 0-for-4, 2 K. #16 - Kyle DeBarge (Fort Myers) - 1-for-5, 3B(3), R, RBI, 2 K. #17 - Tanner Schobel (Wichita) – 0-for-4, 3 K. #20 – Connor Prielipp (Cedar Rapids) – 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K. 45 pitches, 34 strikes (75.6%) SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Iowa @ St. Paul (2:07 PM CST) – RHP Travis Adams (0-0, 5.40 ERA) Wichita @ Frisco (6:05 PM CST) – RHP C.J. Culpepper (0-1, 8.25 ERA) Wisconsin @ Cedar Rapids (1:05 PM CST) – RHP Tanner Hall (0-2, 6.28 ERA) - Final Game. Ft. Myers @ Lakeland (11:00 AM CST) – TBD - Final Game. Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Saturday’s games! View full article

The Twins got a much-needed Win. The Saints game ended in a walkoff. Wichita put a couple of crooked numbers on the board and held on for a nice win. And the past two top draft picks helped the Kernels to a win over Wisconsin. Of course, the Mighty Mussels need wins if they want to make the playoffs. See if they were able to maintain an opportunity. And much more in Thursday's Twins Minor League Report. Image courtesy of David Malamut (@MWLArchives on X) CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 76-64 St. Paul Saints: 65-69 Wichita Wind Surge: 55-74 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 66-61 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 64-57 FCL Twins: 27-31 (season complete) DSL Twins: 30-25 (season complete) TRANSACTIONS It may have taken a little longer than many of us thought it should, but OF DaShawn Keirsey, Jr. has been called up to the Twins. OF Max Kepler went on the 10-Day Injured List. LHP Kody Funderburk was placed on the 60-Day IL to make room for Keirsey on the 40-man roster. Also, RHP Josh Winder was placed on the 7-Day IL. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 7, Iowa 6 Box Score The Saints scored the first three runs of the game in the bottom of the first inning. In the bottom of the seventh, they added three more. In between, the Cubs scored six straight. Essentially that made this a two-inning game. With one out in the bottom of the first, Diego A. Castillo doubled and Emmanuel Rodriguez walked. Yunior Severino drove in Castillo with a single. With two outs, Rodriguez scored on a wild pitch. After a fielding error kept the inning alive, Rylan Bannon drove in Severino with a single. Caleb Boushley started. He went four innings and gave up two runs on six hits. He had three walks and five strikeouts. Jeff Brigham worked the next two innings. He gave up two runs on three hits and two walks. He struck out two batters. Trevor Richards pitched the seventh inning. He gave up two runs on one hit (home run) and a walk. He had one strikeout. Down 6-3 during the 7th Inning Stretch, the Saints mounted their comeback. With one out, Payton Eeles was hit by a pitch. He moved up one base on a Castillo single. Rodriguez singled to right to load the bases. Severino came through again with a two-run single. With two outs and still down a run, Jair Camargo singled to score Rodriguez with the tying run. With the game now tied 6-6 to start the eighth inning, Toby Gardenhire turned to veteran Giovanny Gallegos. He was able to get Matt Shaw, Moises Ballesteros and Brennen Davis in order. The Saints missed an incredible opportunity. Patrick Winkel led off with a single. Anthony Prato ran for him. Chris Williams singled and Payton Eeles was hit by a pitch to load the bases. The Cubs turned things over to Frankie Scalzo. He struck out Castillo on six pitches. Then on a 2-0 sweeper, Rodriguez got jammed and softly hit into a double play. If you enjoy Win Probability, here’s how that inning looked. When the Twins had the bases loaded, they had a Win Probability of 86.8% Following the Castillo strikeout, that number dropped to 77.3% Following the double play, the odds were back to 50.0% Hobie Harris came in for the top of the ninth. He gave up a single and a walk, but got three strikeouts to keep the game tied. With one out in the bottom of the ninth, Carson McCusker singled. Camargo was hit by a pitch. With two outs, Anthony Prato singled a single to center to drive in McCusker with the winning run. The Saints had 12 hits in the game. Only Eeles didn’t have a hit, though he was twice hit by a pitch. Castillo went 2-for-4 with a walk and his 22nd double. McCusker was 2-for-4 with a walk and his second Saints double. Severino was 2-for-5 and drove in three runs. Rodriguez and Camargo each had a single and a walk. Camargo was also hit by a pitch. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 6, Frisco 4 Box Score Wichita put up five runs in the top of the third, but was it enough? Christian MacLeod wasn’t quite on his game the way he has been the last couple of months. He gave up two runs in the first and two more runs in the third inning. However, he stayed tough and was able to give his team five innings. He gave up those four runs on five hits. He walked four and had four strikeouts. The top of the third began with a single by Jorel Ortega and a walk by Ben Ross. Following a flyout, Jake Rucker singled to right to put the Surge on the scoreboard. On a double-steal attempt, Ross scored the second run. Tanner Schobel then singled to center to drive in Rucker. Alex Isola followed with his first home run since returning to Wichita recently. Wichita maintained their 5-4 lead until the top of the eighth. Isola walked, and with one out, Andrew Cossetti walked. After a pitching change, Kyler Fedko singled to left to drive in Isola and give the Wind Surge an insurance run. Was the pitching able to hold that lead? MacLeod finished with two scoreless innings. John Stankiewicz gave up two hits over two scoreless innings. Jarret Whorff walked two but struck out three batters over two scoreless, hitless innings to record his first Wichita Save. And it might surprise you that it also earned MacLeod his first Wichita Win. Wichita had six hits, but they also took advantage of seven walks. Fedko was the lone hitter with two hits. He also had the only extra base hit, his 13th double. Isola had the homer along with two walks. Cossetti and Ross each walked twice in the game as well. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 5, Wisconsin 3 Box Score The Kernels scored first in the bottom of the third. They took a 5-0 lead through five innings, but how did the second half of the game go? Did they hang on? Kaelen Culpepper led off the bottom of the third inning with a single and stole second base. Following an out, Rixon Wingrove hit his fifth Kernels home run to make it 2-0. With two outs in the fourth inning, Walker Jenkins doubled and went to third on a balk. He scored when Culpepper reached on an error. With two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning, Misael Urbina hit his fifth home run, a two-run shot to make it 5-0. Spencer Bengard made the start for the Kernels. He tossed four scoreless innings. He gave up just two hits and a walk while striking out three batters. Jacob Wosinski gave up one run on two hits and two walks over his two innings. Nolan Santos was charged with an unearned run over his two innings. He gave up no hits and a walk, and he had two strikeouts. Samuel Perez gave up a solo home run in the top of the ninth but that was hit. He recorded his first Kernels Save. Walker Jenkins led off and went 3-for-4 with a walk and his 12th double. He also stole two bases. Culpepper batted second and went 1-for-3 with two walks. He also reached on an error and stole a base. Wingrove and Urbina each went 1-for-3 with a walk and their fifth homer with Cedar Rapids this year. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers 2, Lakeland 0 (Game Suspended) Box Score Coming into this game, the Mussels needed to win three of the four remaining games to move past Lakeland and make the playoffs. So relative to the Florida State League playoffs, this is a pretty important game so they will try their best to play not only the remainder of this game, but also to play all four of the remaining games. Both teams went scoreless in the first inning. The Mussels scored two runs in the top of the second inning, but that’s when the game was delayed and eventually suspended. In fact, two Mussels hitters were hit by a pitch, so play clearly needed to be stopped. PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day - Walker Jenkins (Cedar Rapids) - 3-for-4, BB, 2B(12), R, 2 SB(8). Pitcher of the Day - Spencer Bengard (Cedar Rapids) - 4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, 78 pitches, 49 strikes (62.8%) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our recently-updated Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Thursday. #1– Walker Jenkins (Cedar Rapids) – 3-for-4, BB, 2B(12), 2 SB(8). #2 – Brooks Lee (Minnesota) – 0-for-1 (PH) #3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - 1-for-4, BB, 2 R, 2 K #9 - Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-3, 2 BB, SB(2). #12 – Brandon Winokur (Fort Myers) – Game Suspended #15 - Kala’i Rosario (Wichita) - 0-for-5, 3 K. #16 - Kyle DeBarge (Fort Myers) - Game Suspended. #17 - Tanner Schobel (Wichita) – 1-for-5, R, RBI, 2 K. FRIDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Iowa @ St. Paul (6:37 PM CST) – RHP Andrew Morris (1-0, 3.15 ERA) Wichita @ Frisco (7:05 PM CST) – RHP Marco Raya (2-4, 4.68 ERA) Wisconsin @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 PM CST) – RHP Darren Bowen (2-9, 5.94 ERA) Ft. Myers @ Lakeland (DH @ 4:00 PM CST) – RHP Jose Olivares (2-2, 2.93 ERA), TBD Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Thursday’s games! View full article

The Twins needed a win on Thursday afternoon. Pablo López and the bullpen delivered. The lineup powered their way to an early lead, and the team’s top horses held on. It was a big win, as the Twins head to Kansas City for a huge AL Central series starting this weekend. Image courtesy of © Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images Box Score SP: Pablo Lopez - 6 2/3 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 9 K (91 pitches, 62 strikes (68.1% strikes)) Home Runs: Edouard Julien (8), Matt Wallner (11). Top 3 WPA: Griffin Jax (.209), Jhoan Duran (.187), Edouard Julien (.160) Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) Pregame Transactions The Twins announced that Max Kepler was heading to the 10-Day Injured List with his knee injury. He hasn’t played for several days and isn’t experiencing any improvement. In addition, along with his ejection in his rehab game on Wednesday night, Byron Buxton also had a setback in his return from the hip injury. That combination meant that the Twins selected the contract of, and called up, outfielder DaShawn Keirsey, Jr. Keirsey has been tremendous at the plate and in the field for the Saints this year and is very deserving of the opportunity. To make room on the 40-man roster for Keirsey, LHP Kody Funderburk was transferred to the 60-Day injured list. While technically a minor-league transaction, RHP Josh Winder was placed on the 7-Day IL by the Saints. Pregame Notes Since 2019, the Twins have gone 77-60 in September since Rocco Baldelli became manager. Skippers with more wins in September during that stretch include the Dodgers Dave Roberts (91), Atlanta’s Brian Snitker (81), Brewers/Cubs Craig Counsell (81), and Tampa Bay’s Kevin Cash (78). Early Power from Offense Over the Twins’ previous nine games, 18 of their 29 runs had come in the seventh inning or later. While the Twins went scoreless in the first inning, they were able to put a crooked number on the scoreboard in the second inning. Jose Miranda led off with a single to left field. Carlos Santana followed with a line drive single to right field. That marked the seventh time he had reached base in his past 10 plate appearances. That brought Edouard Julien to the plate. On the first pitch, he saw a splitter that sat right in the middle of the plate at 91.5 mph. With his keen eyesight, Julien was able to see the rotation of the ball and the words “Hit Me Harder” written on the sweet spot. Julien took those words to heart, swung, and watched the ball travel 392 feet, well over the right field fence, at 105.3 mph and a 28 degree launch angle. The Twins led 3-0. With one out in the top of the third inning, Matt Wallner came to the plate. He saw a fastball at 96.2 mph for a ball. Taj Bradley tried to keep him off balance with a slow curveball at just 80.0 mph. On 2-0, Bradley likely hoped that showing the slow curve might make his fastball look a bit faster. He threw another fastball, this one at 97.2 mph. Wallner hit it at 105.3 mph with a bat speed of 80.7 mph and a 41 degree launch angle. It landed 357 feet from home plate, just into the bleachers and just beyond the reach of a leaping Jonny DeLuca. That gave the Twins a 4-0 lead. On a side note, that was the 30th overall home run of the season for Wallner. It was his 11th with the Twins, but he also had 19 in his time with the St. Paul Saints. A Happy Pablo Day Pablo Lopez made his 29th start of the season. He came into the game with a stretch of 20 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings. He started Thursday’s game with two scoreless innings. However, with two outs in the bottom of the third, Junior Caminero drilled a line-drive single to right field with the bases loaded to drive in two runs. Lopez’s streak ended at 23 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings. The last time that number was achieved was in 2019, when Tyler Duffey went 24 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings out of the Twins bullpen between July 28 and September 25. Lopez followed the two-run third inning with a scoreless, 10-pitch inning in the fourth, and a scoreless, 14-pitch inning in the fifth in which he struck out three batters. He had a nine-pitch sixth inning. He was also throwing really hard. He had three pitches that registered over 98.0 mph. On the season, Lopez has averaged 94.9 mph on his four-seamer. On Thursday afternoon, he threw 38 four-seam fastballs. The slowest came in at 95.0 mph. The max velocity was 98.6 mph, and his average was 96.8 mph, just shy of two mph above his season average. Bats go Cold Through Middle Innings Rays starter Taj Bradley made some adjustments and figured things out with his catcher Logan Driscoll. The Twins went scoreless in the fourth through seventh innings. In the fourth, he got three easy ground outs. In the fifth inning, Austin Martin walked and went to second on a wild pitch, but a ground out and a strikeout ended that threat. It was two strikeouts and a groundout for the Twins in the top of the sixth inning. Then in the seventh, Ryan Jeffers singled to right but was erased on a tailor-made double play off the bat of Willi Castro. That was followed with another strikeout. He gave up the four runs early, but overall, Bradley went seven innings and gave up six hits. He had just one walk, and he struck out 10 batters. Wallner and the Wall With two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning, Yandy Diaz lined a ball down the right field line to drive in DeLuca and cut the lead to 4-3. In an effort to hold Diaz to a single, Matt Wallner went full speed, fielded the ball, took a couple of steps and then toppled over the side wall in foul territory. On the field, it was called a ground rule double, but Rays manager Kevin Cash questioned whether Diaz should get an extra base and get third base. There was a replay, and it took a long time, but this is such a unique play that it’s going to take longer. The delay was 10 minutes and the umpire informed the crowd that the call was made correctly on the field. Diaz gets second base. Ultimately, a very confusing play with many potential interpretations was reviewed and it was called correctly. Unfortunately, the long delay meant that Pablo Lopez’s day was done with 91 pitches. Rocco Baldelli went to the mound and had a pretty extensive (one-way) conversation with Lopez before pointing to the bullpen and summoning Griffin Jax. Lopez looked disappointed but understanding with the decision. Going to the Big Guys in the Bullpen! In his previous start, Baldelli sprinted out to the mound to talk to Lopez when he was at a 100 pitches in a key spot in the game. In that case, he let him stay in. In this case, he went to the bullpen ace. Either option is a good option for the Twins. Jax came in, threw one pitch, and got an inning-ending ground out. He also struck out two batters in a scoreless eighth inning. Jax needed 13 pitches to get four outs. Jhoan Duran slammed the door with a 12-pitch bottom of the ninth for the save. How important were those last seven outs? Check out the Top 3 Twins players by Win Probability Added in this game. Other Notes The Twins scored the four early runs, but that is about it. They had just two hits after the third inning. In fact, they were just 1-for-4 with runners in scoring position and left just four on base. These two teams played seven times this season. The Rays won four of those games. Six of the seven games were decided by just one run! More to Come. What’s Next? The Twins head to Kansas City for a huge, late-season series against the Royals. On Friday night (on Apple TV+), Zebby Matthews (1-2, 7.41 ERA) will try to bounce back from his first rough outing. He will face left Cole Ragans (10-9, 3.46 ERA). The game begins at 7:10. On Saturday at 6:15 pm, Bailey Ober (12-6, 3.95 ERA) will try to overcome the issues that he has had with the Royals the last couple of seasons. He will face right-hander Alec Marsh (7-8, 4.70 ERA). On Sunday, Simeon Woods Richardson (5-3, 3.95 ERA) will hope to provide some innings. He faces veteran Michael Wacha (11-7, 3.50 ERA) in a 1:10 start. Postgame Interview Bullpen Availability Chart View full article

Twins Daily has learned that DaShawn Keirsey, Jr. has been promoted to the big leagues, and is expected to join the Minnesota Twins in Tampa on Thursday morning before the series finale. Let’s look back at his career to date, and what tools and skills he can bring to the table. Image courtesy of Rob Thompson, St. Paul Saints On Sept. 1, when MLB rosters could be expanded from 26 to 28, the Minnesota Twins called up RHP Diego Castillo and Utilityman Michael Helman. Castillo pitched once and was optioned to make room for Louie Varland. We were all excited for Michael Helman to finally get this opportunity after overcoming several injuries. At the same time, I noted my disappointment for outfielder DaShawn Keirsey. But here we are, just days later, and Keirsey has received The Call. He will be joining the Twins this morning in Tampa and then head with the team to Kansas City. Tools and Skills Normally a Prospect Retrospective would start with a player’s background and what brought him to the big leagues. However, I want to start with what skills DaShawn Keirsey possesses and how they can help the Twins. Keirsey’s best tools are his speed and his defense. No one in the organization, with the possible exception of a healthy Will Holland, is faster than Keirsey. Obviously that speed helps him on defense. Keirsey has spent a lot of time at all three outfield positions over the past couple of years, but he is at his best manning center field. He throws left-handed, and I’d place his arm at average or slightly above average. However, he generally has a very accurate arm. Offensively, when he has been healthy, he has performed. In the minor leagues, he has been a top of the order hitter, though in some lineups with the Saints he has hit third or fourth. A quick look at his 2024 numbers shows that he does a very nice job filling out the stat line. In 103 games with the Saints, he has hit .292/.362/.477 (839) with 20 doubles, seven triples, and 14 home runs. He drove in 75 runs and scored 69 runs. On the bases, he was 36-for-43 in stolen base attempts. Keirsey bats left-handed. This season, he has walked in 9.7% of his plate appearances and struck out 23.0% of the time. That has been pretty consistent the past three seasons which have been spent in Double-A and Triple-A. Over the past three seasons, he has been really good at using the entire field. He pulls the ball about 36% of the time, hits the ball to center about 26% of the time, and he hits the ball the other way about 38% of the time. As for power, the 27-year-old Keirsey is listed at 6-1, 195 pounds. He is fast and looks fairly thin. However, he is strong and does have the ability to drive the ball, mostly to the gaps, but he does have more power than you think. That said, a full season might yield 12-15 home runs in the big leagues. So how can he help the Twins down the stretch? It’s easy to say that he can be a speed and defense guy, a pinch-runner and defensive replacement. And he certainly can do that. However, with his defense in center and with the offense that he has posted, he can fit a center field platoon with Austin Martin or someone else in center field. Really all the things that you would say that Michael Helman can do, DaShawn Keirsey can do, just left-handed. So why haven’t we seen him in the big leagues to this point? It’s all about opportunity. And I know that sounds a little cliche, but it’s also true. He wasn’t added to the 40-man roster last November, and he went unpicked in the Rule 5 draft. He bats left handed. So do Max Kepler, Alex Kirilloff, Trevor Larnach, and Matt Wallner, and All Star Willi Castro is a switch hitter. The club has paid Byron Buxton, and they acquired Manuel Margot before the season started to provide right-handed bats. When Buxton got hurt, the team turned to Austin Martin. When Manuel Margot got hurt last week, they turned to Michael Helman. What can DaShawn Keirsey be long-term for the Twins (or other teams)? I feel like saying that he would fit the “fourth outfielder” definition is almost limiting. In the right situation with the right organization, he could get an extended look and be a 130 game guy. In the Twins organization, as it is right now, he really fills out the skill set needed to succeed in that role. And, with Rocco Baldelli at the helm, he does a nice job of keeping his bench players fresh. Max Kepler is a free agent after the season. Alex Kirilloff’s prospects in the Twins organization are uncertain. We’d like to think that Larnach and Wallner can be the team’s corner outfield for the next decade, and Buxton has another five years on his contract extension. So with the Twins, Keirsey (and Martin and Helman, etc.) can fill platoon roles and part time gigs. And with his background and story and injury history, and probably his fair share of doubters, any role in the big leagues probably sounds really good to Keirsey, and his family. The Background I’m going to keep this fairly short. Keirsey has been on a couple of podcasts with me that I will include in this article. In the Twins Spotlight episode, we talked for a good 45 minutes about his background and goals and such. In mid-2023, when he was still in Wichita, I wrote an article calling him the Twins most underrated prospect. With the article, we had a quick 20 minute interview at that time to talk about his improvements and such. You’ll certainly want to watch those. The Twins 2018 draft has been a solid one to this point. Trevor Larnach was the team’s top pick out of Oregon State. In the second round, they selected catcher Ryan Jeffers from UNCW. They selected Cole Sands out of Florida State in the fifth round, and Josh Winder out of Virginia Military Institute in the seventh round. Lefty Kody Funderburk was their 15th round pick out of Dallas Baptist. Michael Helman was the team’s 11th round pick out of Texas A&M. Others still in the organization yet to debut are C/1B Chris Williams who is the Home Run King in St. Paul. He was the team’s 8th round pick that year from Clemson. Finally, RHP Regi Grace was the team’s 10th round pick out of high school in Mississippi. The Twins didn’t have a third-round pick that year after signing veteran Josh Donaldson to a nine-digit contract that offseason. In the fourth round, they selected DaShawn Keirsey, Jr., out of the University of Utah. Born and raised in San Diego, California, Keirsey attended Helix Charter School. You might have heard of some of their alumni. Football: Reggie Bush, Alex Smith and literally a dozen more. . Basketball: Bill Walton graduated in 1970. Actor: Dennis Hopper graduated in 1954. Twins fans may remember that long-time prospect Jake Reed (5th round, 2014) went to Helix before heading to play baseball at the University of Oregon. At Helix, Keirsey was an all-league and all-county wide receiver in football. However, it was on the baseball diamond that his future would be. After high school, he went to the University of Utah where he was first-team All-Pac 12 and a Freshman All American. He played in 54 games and hit .293/.349/.358 (.707( with nine doubles and 11 steals. As a sophomore, he played in 50 games and hit .327/.388/.461 (.848) with 10 doubles, five triples, and three home runs. However, in a late-May home game, Keirsey was in center field when a ball was hit over his head. The next spring, Keirsey told the Salt Lake Tribune, “At Smith’s Ballpark, center field is 420 [feet]. You don’t really, especially in games, see people hit the ball over the center field wall at this level. I just remember thinking, with the trajectory of the ball, I thought it was going to have a chance. In the back of my mind, I knew I was going to collide with the wall some way, but I thought it was going to be like a jump into the wall. I didn’t think it would be, obviously, the way it happened.” He hit the wall. The wall did not move. Keirsey was on the ground for 30 minutes before being taken off in an ambulance. The diagnosis? Keirsey had a dislocated hip and a fractured hip. Instead of playing in a top college wood bat league, or even just doing things on the southern California beaches he had his whole life. Instead, he was working on things like being able to walk again and swinging a bat without it hurting. When you see how bad the injury was, it’s incredible to find out that he was ready on Opening Day of 2018. And not only was he simply able to play, he contributed huge offensive numbers. In 50 games, he hit .386/.440/.609 (1.049) with 23 doubles, five triples and four home runs. The Twins drafted him in the fourth round and were very excited about his athleticism and upside. He went to Elizabethton and hit .301 in 26 games there. In 2019, he went to Cedar Rapids, but missed so much time with leg injuries. He played in just 36 games. Especially with the completely lost season of 2020, it had to be frustrating. He went back to the Kernels in 2021 and was limited to just 45 games with more leg injuries. He hit just .199, but he did have four doubles, four triples and seven home runs. He also stole 10 bases. Since 2022, Keirsey has been relatively healthy. That season, he played 121 games in Wichita. He hit .271/.329/.395 (.724) with 26 doubles, three triples and seven homers. He also stole 42 bases in 49 attempts. He returned to the Wind Surge in 2023. In 91 games, he hit .305/.363/.488 (.850) with 17 doubles, five triples, and 13 homers. He finished the season in St. Paul where he hit .264/.375/.364 (.739) with a double, three triples, and two homers. Combined, he had 39 steals in 44 attempts. There was some concern that Keirsey might be lost in the Rule 5 draft last year, but he went unselected. This offseason, Keirsey would have become a free agent had he not been added to the Twins 40-man roster. He could have stayed in the organization, but I certainly wouldn’t have blamed him had he gone elsewhere. How He Got His Shot As previously noted, Keirsey wasn't the team's first choice when rosters expanded. He wasn't even the second. Finally, though, with Kepler hitting the injured list, the door is open for him. Presumably, since Byron Buxton is also being reevaluated after feeling discomfort during his latest rehab appearance, Keirsey is especially welcome as a solid defensive center fielder, but his immediate value is in replacing Kepler on the roster. That might mean only sparing starts, but he does round out the outfield defense nicely, especially in center and against right-handed pitchers. For much, much more Twins Daily content on DaShawn Keirsey, click here to see articles in which he has been tagged. There are a full four pages of articles linked. View full article

Strong Pitching. Timely hitting. That might be the story in St. Paul on Wednesday. But it won't be. There were some intriguing bookends in Cedar Rapids, but they got a great start from a Minnesota native. Was Fort Myers able to stay in first place? What do they need to do in their final four games to make the playoffs. Tons of information for you in Wednesday's Twins Minor League Report. Image courtesy of Rob Thompson, St. Paul Saints CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 75-64 St. Paul Saints: 64-69 Wichita Wind Surge: 54-74 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 65-61 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 64-57 FCL Twins: 27-31 (season complete) DSL Twins: 30-25 (season complete) TRANSACTIONS LHP Brent Headrick was activated from the Saints 60-Day Injured List on Thursday. RHP Louie Varland was recalled from St. Paul while RHP Diego Castillo was optioned to the Saints. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 2, Iowa 1 Box Score Yes, the big story of this game will be about Byron Buxton. However, this was really a terrific game for the Saints, in particular a terrific game for the Saints pitching staff. Brent Headrick made a start for the Saints on April 6th. On Wednesday night, he returned to the mound in St. Paul and did a very nice job. The southpaw threw three scoreless innings. He gave up two hits, walked one and struck out four batters. At that point, Randy Dobnak came on, and he worked the final six innings. He gave up one run on two hits and a walk. He struck out six batters. The lone blemish in his outing was a solo home run by Iowa’s Chase Strumpf (yes, Royce Lewis’s high school teammate). Dobnak improved to 11-6 on the seasons and his ERA dropped to 3.87. The Saints got on the scoreboard first. With one out in the bottom of the third, Payton Eeles walked. Two batters later, he scored from first base on DaShawn Keirsey’s 20th double. Strumpf’s homer led off the top of the fifth inning with the home run. The game remained tied at 1-1 until the bottom of the seventh inning. With one out, Jair Camargo walked. He advanced to second base on a passed ball. Carson McCusker singled to score Camargo and give the Saints the 2-1 lead. The Saints had just four hits in the game. Keirsey went 2-for-4 with the double and RBI. He also stole his 36th base of the season. McCusker was 2-for-3 with the go-ahead RBI. Eeles reached on a walk and was hit by a pitch. For the Cubs fans out there, 2023 top pick Matt Shaw went 2-for-4. Iowa had just four hits. Brandon Birdsell went the first six innings for Iowa and gave up just one run. He was the Cubs fifth round pick in 2022 out of Texas Tech. In 2021, he was the Twins 11th round pick. The Twins offered him the remaining money that they could within their draft bonus limit, but he was determined to pitch one more year at Texas Tech. In 2022, he was a teammate and roommate of Twins 2022 fourth round pick from Texas Tech, Andrew Morris. Buxton went 0-for-2 before the ejection with two strikeouts. It would seem to make sense that he would be called back to the big leagues before the Twins big series in Kansas City starting on Friday. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 1, Frisco 2 Box Score Wichita got on the board first when they scored in the top of the first inning. With two outs, Andrew Cossetti drove in Tanner Schobel with a single. Unfortunately, that was it for the Wind Surge on this night. The team had just five hits. The lone extra base hit was a first-inning double by Kala’i Rosario, his 17th of the season. Jaylen Nowlin started and gave up two runs on five hits over five innings. He had two walks and six strikeouts. Mason Fox faced six batters over two perfect innings. He had three strikeouts. Kyle Bischoff gave up a hit and a walk in a scoreless eighth inning. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 4, Wisconsin 3 (10 innings) Box Score The Alpha and the Omega. El principio y el fin. The beginning and the end. In this game, that’s all we really need to know about. Things were pretty quiet in between. The Kernels took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. With two outs and a runner on first, Rubel Cespedes walked. Rayne Doncon followed with a double to score both Gabriel Gonzalez and Cespedes. Doncon then scored on a single by Agustin Ruiz. That is how the score remained through eight innings. Burnsville native John Klein made the start and tossed a season-high seven scoreless innings. He gave up six hits, walked none, and struck out six batters. Klein also became the first Cedar Rapids pitcher to reach 100 innings since 2019 when Josh Winder (125 ⅔ IP) and Luis Rijo (107 IP) reached that milestone. Juan Mendez pitched a scoreless eighth inning. He allowed a hit and hit a batter. He hit Luke Adams. The Kernels maintained the 3-0 lead going to the ninth inning. Xander Hamilton came in and gave up three runs (2 earned) on three hits and a walk. He recorded just one out (on a strikeout). Jordan Carr came in and stranded two runners to keep it at 3-3. The Kernels went scoreless in the bottom of the ninth. Carr tossed a scoreless top of the 10th inning. That brought us to the bottom of the 10th. Kyle Hess was the Manfred Man. He was still standing on second base with two outs. However, Gabriel Gonzalez doubled to drive in Hess with the winning run. When Gonzalez put the ball in play, he did good things. He went 2-for-5 with three strikeouts. The walkoff double was his 19th of the season. Ruiz was 2-for-3 with a walk. Doncon’s double was his 11th with the Kernels. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers 0, Lakeland 4 Box Score If you look at his overall numbers, it probably doesn’t jump out as exciting. Following a loss to Lakeland on Thursday, Soto’s season record is 1-7 with a 5.23 ERA and a 1.50 WHIP. In 74 innings, he had 33 walks and 87 strikeouts. Soto completed a full season as an 18-year-old. In fact, this was literally the only start he made this season as a 19-year-old. Just 10 of plate appearances against him were with batters who were younger than him. With that, in his game, he gave up four runs on four hits and two walks in 4 1/3 innings. He had five strikeouts. He made his starts throughout the season and remained healthy. In fact, his four-seam fastball averaged 95.6 mph on Wednesday night and he touched 97.0 mph. Now hopefully he won’t pick up a baseball for the next three months! Jack Noble came on and allowed two inherited runners to score. He gave up two hits and a walk and got three outs. Cleiber Maldonado struck out three batters over 1 2/3 perfect innings. Juan Mercedes gave up two hits in a scoreless inning. He had two strikeouts. The Mussels went scoreless in the game and had just four hits and no walks. Kyle DeBarge went 2-for-4. Jaime Ferrer and Nick Lucky each had one hit. Ferrer stole his sixth base. Lucky’s hit was his fifth double. With the loss, Fort Myers falls into second place in the FSL West behind Lakeland. The two teams play four more games this week and the Mussels must win three of them to make the playoffs. Lakeland has won the first two games of this series. The Mussels have now lost five games in a row. PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day - DaShawn Keirsey (St. Paul) - 2-for-4, 2B(20), RBI, SB(36). Pitcher of the Day - John Klein (Cedar Rapids) - 7 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 HBP, 6 K, 87 pitches, 65 strikes (74.7%) 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) – 0-for-4, BB, K. #2 – Brooks Lee (Minnesota) – 1-for-4, BB, 2B(3), HR(3), R, RBI #3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - 0-for-3, BB, 2 K #7 – Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids) – 2-for-5, 2B(19), R, RBI, 3 K. #8 – Charlee Soto (Fort Myers) – 4 1/3 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 71 pitches, 45 strikes (63.4%) #9 - Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-4, 2 K. #12 – Brandon Winokur (Fort Myers) – 0-for-4, 2 K. #15 - Kala’i Rosario (Wichita) - 1-for-4, 2B(17), 3 K. #16 - Kyle DeBarge (Fort Myers) - 2-for-4, K, 2 CS(3). #17 - Tanner Schobel (Wichita) – 1-for-4, R, 2 K. THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Iowa @ St. Paul (6:37 PM CST) – RHP Caleb Boushley (9-5, 4.97 ERA) Wichita @ Frisco (7:05 PM CST) – LHP Christian MacLeod (0-1, 2.12 ERA) Wisconsin @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 PM CST) – Spencer Bengard (1-0, 1.42 ERA) Ft. Myers @ Lakeland (5:30 PM CST) – RHP Anthony Narvaez (0-0, 9.00 ERA) Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Wednesday’s games! View full article

That's not something you see every day. I wonder how often an MLB rehabber has been ejected in a minor-league game? Can anyone remember if Buxton has ever been ejected from a game with the Twins? Image courtesy of Rob Thompson, St. Paul Saints Twins All Star outfielder Byron Buxton played in his second rehab game with the Saints after missing time with a hip injury. The hope was for him to play seven innings in center field as he did on Monday. Unfortunately, he only played three innings in center field because after striking out to end the bottom of the third frame, Buxton was ejected by a Triple-A umpire trying to make a name for himself. Sure, we'll mention the umpire's name. Willie Traynor was the home plate umpire in this game and felt the need to ejected Buxton in the third inning. So, what happened? Following a 1-1 pitch, Buxton used his one time out. Inexplicably, the umpire didn't have the time clock reset and when it dropped to zero, he called a pitch clock violation on Buxton which made the count 1-2. Obviously when a hitter uses his one opportunity to step out, the clock is to be stopped and reset. The batter gets a little bit of time, and then the umpire gets the clock going again. from the video below, it's clear that something wasn't reset, and the umpire decided not to use common sense. From a purely baseball perspective, the difference between a 1-1 pitch and a 1-2 pitch is huge. Buxton went on to foul off a pitch before he struck out on a fastball just above the zone. As he set his bat and batting gloves down, Buxton continued the conversation with Traynor. Saints manager Toby Gardenhire ran down from the third base coach's box to get in between. As Buxton walked away, Traynor ejected him. What does this mean? Ultimately nothing. He'll probably have to pay a couple hundred dollars to the International League. He possibly missed out on two more plate appearances and four or five innings in the outfield. Not a big deal. Presumably he'll play in one more game with the Saints before rejoining the Twins, assuming everything checks out on Thursday morning. And to answer the question from above. No, Byron Buxton has never been ejected in the big leagues. He is ultra-competitive and yet keeps his cool very well, including in this example. View full article

Most get Labor Day off, but the St. Paul Saints and Wichita Wind Surge gave people a place to go on their day off to watch some baseball. Wichita even worked a little overtime. Image courtesy of Rob Thompson, St. Paul Saints (photo of Yunior Severino) In a rarity, there were two full-season affiliates that played on Monday. Find out how St. Paul and Wichita performed. Of note, because of the Labor Day weekend, having a regular minor-league report each day, and our August Awards articles, we won't have the Minor League Week in Review this week. CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 75-62 St. Paul Saints: 63-69 Wichita Wind Surge: 54-73 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 64-60 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 64-55 FCL Twins: 27-31 (season complete) DSL Twins: 30-25 (season complete) TRANSACTIONS Byron Buxton was sent to St. Paul to start a rehab assignment with the Saints. Trevor Richards cleared waivers and was outrighted to St. Paul. In some very surprising but fantastic news, OF Emmanuel Rodriguez ended his rehab in Fort Myers and will continue his season with the Saints. RHP Jarret Whorff was promoted from Wichita to Fort Myers. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 8, Iowa 11 Box Score To celebrate Labor Day, the Saints played a very rare Monday game. To celebrate, the Saints gave free tickets to expecting women for the game. Unfortunately, Iowa had a big seven-run third inning. The Saints tried to come back, but it was too little too late. Caleb Baragar started and gave up one run in the top of the first inning. After a scoreless third inning, he started the top of the third frame by giving up a single, a walk, and a three-run homer to Kevin Alcantara. That ended his game. He gave up four runs on four hits and a walk over two-plus innings. Nick Wittgren came on to replace Baragar. He was welcomed by a Moises Ballesteros home run. After a strikeout, he gave up two singles and threw a wild pitch. Then he got the second out on a strikeout. However, Caleb Knight drilled a three-run homer which gave the Cubs an 8-1 lead. But Wittgren did get a third strikeout to end the inning. Wittgren stayed in and tossed two scoreless innings. Over his three innings, he gave up four runs on five hits. He had four strikeouts. Ryan Jensen was next and he gave up two runs on two hits and a walk in his inning. Zack Weiss tossed a scoreless inning. Scott Okert came in for the seventh inning. He gave up one run on two hits and a walk and recorded two outs. Jarret Whorff came in with the bases loaded and stranded all three runners. He had three strikeouts in 1 1/3 innings. Down 10-1 going into the bottom of the sixth inning, the Saints tried to comeback. Byron Buxton led off with a single to center. Emmanuel Rodriguez walked. With one out, Diego A. Castillo singled to drive in Buxton. Payton Eeles followed with a single to drive in Rodriguez. Down 11-3 going to the bottom of the eighth inning, Yunior Severino led off with a double. Two batters later, Eeles singled to center to score Severino. With two outs, Patrick Winkel singled and then Rylan Bannon singled on a ground ball to shortstop to drive in Eeles. Down 11-5 going into the bottom of the ninth, the Saints tried one more time to come back. led off with a single. With one out, Severino hit his 20th home run. Castillo walked and then scored on a Carson McCusker triple that made it 11-8, but that was as close as it got. The Saints scored their eight runs on 13 hits and five walks. Winkel went 3-for-5. Severino was 2-for-4 with his 18th double and 20th home run. Eeles was 2-for-5. Byron Buxton made his first rehab appearance. He batted second and played in center field for the first seven innings. He was 1-for-3 with a walk. Emmanuel Rodriguez made his Triple-A debut. He went 0-for-3 with two walks and an RBI groundout. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 2, Frisco 3 (11 innings) Box Score Both teams scored two runs in the third inning, and then the game went seven-and-a-half innings without another run scoring. The Wind Surge got on the board first in the top of the third inning. Dalton Shuffield reached on an error. He advanced to second on a Jorel Ortega single. Ben Ross lined a single to left to load the bases. Kala’i Rosario kept the carousel rolling when he drove in Shuffield with a single. The second run scored on a double play grounder. C.J. Culpepper started and gave up two, third-inning runs on three hits in 3 2/3 innings. Cody Laweryson got six outs. Mike Paredes gave up a walk and had two strikeouts. Taylor Floyd gave up three hits and a walk over three scoreless innings. He had two strikeouts. The Surge had just seven hits and two walks combined. Ben Ross went 2-for-4. Kyler Fedko was 2-for-5. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day – RHP Cody Laweryson (Wichita): 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, Hitter of the Day – 1B Yunior Severino (St. Paul): 2-for-4, BB, 2B(18), HR(20), 2 RBI, 2 R, BB 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. #2 – Brooks Lee (Minnesota) – 2-for-4, BB, 2B(3), HR(3), R, RBI #3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - 0-for-3, 2 BB, R, RBI 2 K #15 - Kala’i Rosario (Wichita) - 1-for-5, RBI, 2 K. #17 - Tanner Schobel (Wichita) – 0-for-2, K. #19 - C.J. Culpepper (Wichita) - DNP TUESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Wisconsin @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 PM CST) – TBD Ft. Myers @ Lakeland (5:30 PM CST) – LHP Cesar Lares (3-3, 4.31 ERA) Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Monday’s games! View full article