Seth Stohs

Seth chatted with Saints broadcaster Sean Aronson after a doubleheader on Thursday afternoon. He has been with the Saints since 2007 and spend four seasons with the Fort Myers Miracle before that. Austin Martin had a record-breaking day for the Saints. What does DaShawn Keirsey need to do to get a call up? Matt Wallner and Yunior Severino have generally struggled this year, but Aronson thinks that those struggles could be for two different reasons, which is really interesting. The Saints pitching staff has some quality prospects in it, but the Twins have also sent them several veterans (who have also had their ups and downs). And, who are some names to remember as potential call ups to the Twins that we aren't talking about? View full video

Winokur is hitting .254/.321/.401 (.722) in the Florida State League as a 19.5 year old player. The average hitter in the FSL is hitting .230/.332/.343 (.675) with an average age of 21.0 years old. So, he's 10-11% better than league average batting average, about 3% below average on-base percentage, and about 17% better than league average slugging... and he's 1 1/2 - 2 years younger than the average player. Now, as we notice by his OPS going up 36 points in one day (a 2-for-4 with a double and homer), it also shows that in general, he's been a league average player in the FSL despite his youth. To be that young and hold your own at that level is more impressive than the numbers by themselves. And, I would add, he's doing that while moving around between SS, CF, 3B and RF (and some DH). He's got so much upside and potential.

Here was my official vote: Walker Jenkins Brooks Lee Emmanuel Rodriguez Austin Martin Gabriel Gonzalez David Festa Charlee Soto Luke Keaschall Marco Raya Zebby Matthews Kala'i Rosario Brandon Winokur Simeon Woods Richardson Danny De Andrade Andrew Morris Ricardo Olivar Cory Lewis CJ Culpepper Jose Rodriguez Jair Camargo

For me there really is one big difference, but I understand the point. If Keirsey was doing what he was doing at St. Paul now, but he was 23, he'd be a top ten prospect easily, but because he is 27, he's not. For me, the difference is just that Keirsey just keeps getting better and better. Considering his major college injury and missing fairly significant time his first couple of pro seasons (not to mention 2020), he continues to make strides at the plate. Adding some power. Getting on base. And no one can really question what he can do on defense. Honestly, if he was right-handed, he'd be up. It may be that simple. The fact that he's behind all the big league guys (including Kepler, Larnach and Kirilloff - and Margot and Buxton and Castro), and at AAA, he's behind Martin because of the 40-man roster. Plus Wallner at St. Paul.

The Top 20 Minnesota Twins Prospect rankings have been updated on our site. Thanks to all who voted. The big risers were a couple of pitchers putting up impressive numbers. Lots of injuries though. How do you feel about the updated vote? Image courtesy of Ed Bailey, Wichita Wind Surge Over the past couple of weeks, we have had open prospect voting for Twins Daily writers and for the community. The results of the rankings have now been updated on the site. Here is a brief summary. The last time that we had a vote for Twins Daily’s Top 20 Prospect rankings was in February. In many cases, there was minimal change from the end of the 2023 season. Players acquired or lost in a trade can create change. Maybe a solid prospect does something remarkable in the Winter Leagues. Or maybe a report comes out about a pitcher at Instructional League suddenly hitting 99 mph rather than 95. Or an injured player works his way back. With the mid-May voting, we now have six or seven weeks of 2024 performances by hitters and pitchers. Some players get off to fast starts. Others start out slow. There are injuries and promotions. In other words, we all have more data points for helping us better rank those players. You can find all kinds of stats online, which is great. But you can also watch games online and see the players or attend games at minor-league parks. With that, we did have the Twins Daily writers rank their top 20 prospects first, and then we opened it up to the community rankings. We truly do thank you for taking time to rank prospects. Those rankings were used in conjunction with the writers vote in a formula to give us the updated rankings you can see today. Let’s get to some of the interesting things we find within the updated rankings. GRADUATION: Kody Funderburk He wasn’t in the Top 20 prospect, but he received lots of votes last time. He has surpassed the service time limits. At about 40 innings, Simeon Woods Richardson is just a couple of solid starts from graduation as well. The only other “prospects” to spend time this year with the Twins are Austin Martin and Jair Camargo. Martin is at 76 at-bats, but since he has been a role player, he is likely to pass the service time threshold first. Camargo was only up for about a week, so he’s got plenty of “prospect-dom” remaining. BIGGEST RISERS: Simeon Woods Richardson, Zebby Matthews Woods Richardson was a top 10 prospect from the time he joined the Twins organization in the Jose Berrios trade until he struggled mightily early in the 2023 season. He fell down to #20 at season’s end due to concerns about his control and lack of velocity. This year, he’s come back throwing harder, with a new arm angle, and much improved changeup and breaking balls. In addition, he has found success at times already this year in the big leagues which gets people excited. Of players who were not previously ranked, Zebby Matthews has made the biggest jump, up to #14 in this ranking. He had a very nice full-season debut in 2023, but in 2024, he has been really, really good. He made four starts in Cedar Rapids and now two starts in Wichita. Combined, he is 4-0 with a 1.31 ERA. In 34 1/3 innings, he has 43 strikeouts and is yet to issue a walk. By mid-season, he could easily be in the Top 10. BIGGEST DROP: Cory Lewis, C.J. Culpepper, Matt Canterino Out of site, out of mind, I guess. In 2023, Lewis was one of the biggest stories of the Twins minor-league system. He was the Twins (and Twins Daily) Minor League Pitcher of the Year. Unfortunately, his season was initially delayed by an arm injury that was deemed fairly minor. However, a few weeks ago, he was shifted from the 7-Day IL to the 60-Day IL. Apparently that was enough for him to fall from #8 to #15. C.J. Culpepper was intriguing enough that Baseball America ranked him as the Twins #10 prospect before the season. Culpepper pitched in 86 innings over 21 starts. He had 89 strikeouts to just 31 walks. He split the season between Fort Myers and Cedar Rapids. In 11 Mussels stars, he posted a 2.33 ERA. In 10 Kernels starts, he posted a 4.99 ERA. He has missed some time already this season. In five more Kernels starts, he has a 3.38 ERA and 20 strikeouts in 21 1/3 innings. These two (along with Kyle Jones who had an appendectomy in spring training and is also on the 60-Day IL) have been overshadowed this season by Matthews and Andrew Morris, but both are still legit big-league talents. Lewis has the mid-90s fastball with a knuckleball. Culpepper has six quality pitches. Twins fans were so excited about the return of Matt Canterino after missing so much time with elbow issues and recovering from Tommy John surgery. He ranked #17. He pitched well in limited spring training appearances. We knew he would get a chance to make starts, but maybe he could work out of the Twins bullpen in August and September. When the season started, it was announced that he was going on the 60-Day IL with a shoulder issue. You just can’t help but feel bad for him. That said, if he is able to come back in the next few weeks or even a month, he could be used in the bullpen still, but we just don’t know. He fell from #17 to ‘outside the top 25.” The Next Five: Andrew Morris (#21), Rayne Doncon (#22), Yasser Mercedes (#23), DaShawn Keirsey (#24), Rubel Cespedes (#25). I admit, I begged the committee to increase our Top 20 rankings to a Top 25 list, but I lost. However, this group of five is as interesting and as exciting as maybe any of the other groups of five, even including #1-5. Morris was just promoted to Double-A and made his first start there on Tuesday night. In seven Kernels starts, he went 3-1 with a 2.15 ERA. He had 43 strikeouts and seven walks in 37 2/3 innings. The former fourth-round pick is just 22. Doncon came to the Twins from the Dodgers in the Manuel Margot/Owen Miller trade. The 20-year-old started the season in Fort Myers. In 38 games, he hit .283/.374/.464 (.838) with 13 doubles and four homers. He was promoted to Cedar Rapids this week. Mercedes signed with the Twins in January of 2022 for $1.7 million. He hit .355 with a .975 OPS, 13 doubles, three triples, and four home runs. He also had 30 stolen bases. He struggled in his States debut last year, hitting just .196 with four doubles and four homers in 25 games. He also missed the final few weeks with injury. This season, he is now hitting .422/.480/.711 (1.191) with three doubles, two triples, two homers and seven steals in 12 games. Keirsey just turned 27, but he just continues to improve, and he’s been able to stay healthy. He has easily been the Saints best player this season. In 40 games, he has hit .282/.384/.513 (.897) with 10 doubles, four triples and six homers. He also has 11 steals. Not to mention that he’s certainly the best defensive center fielder in the organization (other than Buxton… probably). Cespedes was the Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Month in April and has continued to produce in May. The 23-year-old corner infielder is hitting .331/.414/.544 (.958) with 10 doubles, two triples, five home runs and 36 RBI. The Big Story: Injuries If there is one big theme to the Twins farm system so far in 2024, it has to involve injuries. Looking at the updated rankings, #1 Walker Jenkins and #2 Brooks Lee have been out all year to this point. Jenkins hurt his hamstring early in Game 1. Lee had back spasms just before the season began. They both began their rehab time clocks in the FCL on Monday. #3 Emmanuel Rodriguez missed just over a week with a wrist issue. He didn’t go to the IL, but he missed seven or eight games. #5 Gabriel Gonzalez left a game with back spasms. He didn’t go on the IL until about 10 days later and he remains on the list. Then about two weeks later, Danny De Andrade sprained his ankle and went on the IL. #15 Cory Lewis has been out all season, which stinks after such a great professional debut a year ago. #17 Connor Prielipp had another elbow procedure done in the middle of last season and hasn’t pitched since. Matt Canterino pitched well in spring training and we were all excited to see him, but as the season began, we learned he was having some shoulder issues. I find it strange that Lewis and Canterino dropped seven or eight spots in our rankings while Prielipp moved up a spot. Again, thank you to all who ranked prospects this time around. We will re-rank again sometime around the draft. What do you think? Before or after? And, what do you think of the updated rankings? What sticks out to you? Here’s one more look at our rankings. For more on each player, click here. #1 - Walker Jenkins (Fort Myers) - FCL Rehab #2 - Brooks Lee (St. Paul) - FCL Rehab #3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (Wichita) #4 - David Festa (St. Paul) #5 - Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids) – IL #6 - Marco Raya (Wichita) #7 - Charlee Soto (Fort Myers) #8 - Austin Martin (St. Paul) #9 - Luke Keaschall (Cedar Rapids) #10 - Brandon Winokur (Fort Myers) #11 - Simeon Woods Richardson (Minnesota) #12 - Kala’i Rosario (Wichita) #13 - Tanner Schobel (Wichita) #14 - Zebby Matthews (Wichita) #15 - Cory Lewis (Wichita) - IL #16 – Danny De Andrade (Cedar Rapids) - IL #17 - Connor Prielipp (Cedar Rapids) - IL #18 – Yunior Severino (St. Paul) #19 - C.J. Culpepper (Cedar Rapids) #20 – Ricardo Olivar (Cedar Rapids) View full article

I think Meatloaf would agree that a 51:1 ratio is still pretty good. Image courtesy of William Parmeter (photo of Ty Langenberg) Birthday boy Zebby Matthews gave up one earned run and struck out eight batters, and yet he wasn't named the Pitcher of the Day. Payton Eeles and Kyler Fedko each had three-hit games, but someone else was named Hitter of the Day. Find out how the four full-season Twins affiliates played on Wednesday. Before we do that, take a look at the affiliates' updated re CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 26-23 St. Paul Saints: 19-25 Wichita Wind Surge: 16-24 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 25-15 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 18-23 FCL Twins: 8-4 Let’s get to the report. As always, please feel free to discuss and ask questions. TRANSACTIONS In a rarity, there were no transactions made on Wednesday (at least officially). SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul, Buffalo (suspended, top of third) Box Score It was a very good start for the Saints in Buffalo on Wednesday afternoon. Unfortunately, we won’t get to see how it finishes until Thursday. Just a few things to note. -The game will resume on Thursday morning with two outs in the top of the third inning. Matt Wallner will be on second base and Yunior Severino (who is 2-for-2 so far in this game) will be on first base. -Veteran Tony Kemp gave the Saints a 3-0 lead in the top of the second innings when his third home run since joining St. Paul. Severino and Chris Williams scored on the play. -Randy Dobnak started and pitched two innings. He gave up one hit and walked one batter. He also struck out two batters. -The game will resume on Thursday at 10:05 (central time). The regularly-scheduled game will be seven innings and will begin 30-minutes after the resumed game is completed. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 3, San Antonio 4 (10 innings) Box Score Zebby Matthews was on the mound again for the Wind Surge in this game. He gave up two runs (1 earned) on three hits over six innings. He had one walk and struck out eight batters. He ended up with a no decision, but his Surge ERA is now 1.02. And yes, I can try to just pass by it, but you read it correctly. Zebby Matthews issued a walk for the first time this year. With the six innings, he now had 51 strikeouts and one walk overall this season in 40 1/3 innings. Ray-Patrick Didder walked to lead off the top of the fifth inning. That means that Matthews went 38 1/3 innings before that first walk. Amazing, truly! John Stankiewicz struck out two, and walked one batter over two scoreless, hitless innings. Wichita got on the board in the bottom of the first inning. Emmanuel Rodriguez led off with a walk. Tanner Schobel’s eighth double advanced E-Rod to third base. Next up was Noah Cardenas who doubled to score both runners. San Antonio tied it in the fourth, but in the bottom of the fifth, the Wind Surge reclaimed the lead. Kyler Fedko led off with a single. He advanced to third on a single by Rodriguez. Tanner Schobel hit a fly ball to center field, deep enough to drive in Fedko with the go-ahead run. Taylor Floyd came in for the ninth inning. He started things off with a walk, but that was followed by a force out for the first out. Floyd then issued another walk, but it was followed with a strikeout for the second out. However, Floyd hit a batter to load the bases. Ramon Borrego turned things over to veteran Jared Solomon. Unfortunately, he walked the first batter he faced which tied the game. He kept it tied by getting a ground out to end the ninth. As the inning came to a close, Solomon was ejected. The Kernels went scoreless in the bottom of the ninth inning. Regi Grace came into the game for the 10th inning. He got a pop out for the first out, but Cole Cummings dropped a soft bloop single into left field to score Clay Dungan with the go-ahead run. That was it for the scoring, but the Wind Surge had to score a run to keep the game going or score two runs to win. Schobel started the inning at second base. After a strikeout, Kala’i Rosario singled on a ground ball off of the pitcher. Unfortunately, a double play ended the game. Kyler Fedko went 3-for-4. Rosario was 2-for-4. Jeferson Morales was 2-for-4 with his seventh double. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 2, Peoria 3 Box Score Both teams scored a run in the first inning. Both teams scored a run in the fifth inning. Peoria messed up the plan when they scored a run in the bottom of the ninth to end the game. Luke Keaschall continued to rake and get things going right away. For the fourth time this season, he led off the first inning of a Kernels game with a home run. In this game, he went 3-for-5 and drove in both runs. In the fifth inning, he hit a single to drive in Nate Baez who had tripled. Baez was 2-for-4 in the game. Rayne Doncon added his first Kernels double. John Klein made the start for the Kernels. He gave up two runs on seven hits and two walks in 5 2/3 innings. He struck out four batters. Jacob Wosinski got five outs. He finished the sixth, the seventh and got one out in the eighth. Kyle Bischoff got the final two outs of the eighth inning without allowing any runs. However, in the bottom of the ninth inning, a double was followed by a walkoff single by William Sullivan. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers 2, Daytona Beach 1 Box Score The Mussels scored first and early, but not often. Fortunately, it was just enough to earn a win on Wednesday. In the top of the first inning, Payton Eeles singled and stole second base. Byron Chourio walked. Brandon Winokur flew out to left field, deep enough for Eeles to tag and advance to third base. Then came a double steal. Chourio stole second base and Eeles stole home for the first run. Chourio stole third base (his eighth of the season) and scored on a ground-rule double by Kyle Hess. That was it for the Mussels scoring. They had base runners but went 1-for-14 with runners in scoring position and left six on base. Eeles led the way. He was 3-for-4 with his fourth double. He had three steals and now has six since joining the Mussels. Hess and Maddux Houghton each had a double. Fortunately, the Mussels got great pitching from a couple of 2023 Day 3 draft picks. Ty Langenberg started and gave up one run on five hits and a walk over six innings. He struck out a career-high nine batters. The Urbandale, Iowa, native has been getting better with each start. A suburb of Des Moines, Langenberg's family is likely looking forward to getting him back in-state. I’m sure those in Cedar Rapids are looking forward to him playing for the Kernels after he spent three years in Iowa City pitching for the Hawkeyes. Xander Hamilton has had some ups and downs already this season, but when he’s on, he can dominate. He faced nine batters over the final three innings, five on strikeouts to earn the save. 22 of his 27 pitchers were strikes. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day – Luke Keaschall (Cedar Rapids) - 3-for-5, HR(6), R, 2 RBI, K. Pitcher of the Day – Ty Langenberg (Fort Myers) - 6 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 9 K, 82 pitches, 57 strikes (69.5%) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on the just-updated Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Wednesday. #3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (Wichita) - 1-for-4, BB, R #8 - Austin Martin (St. Paul) - 1-for-2 before game suspended #9 - Luke Keaschall (Cedar Rapids) - 3-for-5, HR(6), R, 2 RBI, K #10 - Brandon Winokur (Fort Myers) - 0-for-4. #11 - Simeon Woods Richardson (Minnesota) - 4 ⅔ IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, 77 pitches, 48 strikes (62.3%) #12 - Kala’i Rosario (Wichita) - 2-for-5, K #13 - Tanner Schobel (Wichita) - 1-for-4, 2B(8), R, RBI, K #14 - Zebby Matthews (Wichita) - 6 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K. 80 pitches, 55 strikes (68.8%) #18 – Yunior Severino (St. Paul) - 2-for-2, R before game suspended. #20 – Ricardo Olivar (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-4, BB, K (played LF) THURSDAY’S SCHEDULE AND PITCHING PROBABLES St. Paul @ Buffalo (10:05 AM CST) - Conclusion of Game 1, Game 2: RHP Adam Plutko (first Saints start) San Antonio @ Wichita (7:05 PM CST) - LHP Jaylen Nowlin (2-2, 4.76 ERA) Cedar Rapids @ Peoria (6:35 PM CST) - RHP C.J. Culpepper (1-0, 3.38 ERA) Fort Myers @ Lakeland (11:00 AM CST) - RHP Tanner Hall (0-0, 5.40 ERA) FCL Twins @ FCL Pirates (11:00 AM) - TBD Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Wednesday’s games or any other Twins minor league topics! View full article

He definitely has been that guy since signing. Remember after he was drafted, spent time at the end of the year with the Saints and did well. He was a 5-year college guy, drafted in the 10th round as a senior sign. He's mature and obviously knows a lot about the game and isn't going to be overwhelmed. Ernie Yake has been that guy too. He got released this spring. Might be tougher yet with catchers. They just need so many, especially in spring training and in the Extended Spring/FCL. Catcher is such a tough position physically, they like to have three at each level, but there are always a couple of guys that float all over. Kyle Schmidt has been that guy. He retired at the end of last season and really quickly ended up coaching in the Red Sox organization. Frank Nigro was that guy too, playing anywhere over the past 2-3 years, from St. Paul to the FCL and everywhere in between. Certainly not a glamorous position in the organization. Those guys have to be very respected. And they have to know their role and long-term chances, but they're also getting some great opportunities to get paid .

I like Willie. He's a great dude, works really hard and has a ton of athleticism and potential. But, when we consider his AA time last year, we need to put that into context. He spent the last month or so with the Wind Surge. Wichita needed some bodies to fill their roster. Cedar Rapids heading into the playoffs and they didn't want to take any of the regulars from that lineup. Garry wouldn't have played for the Kernels in the playoffs, so he moves up to AA to fill the spot.

Thank you so much to all of you who voted. Incredibly impressed by the tremendous turnout this round. We'll be taking this information and applying it to the prospect list in the coming days. Keep an eye out for it! The ranking you see below is from the Community. It will be consolidated with the votes of the Twins Daily minor-league writers that voted for the official rankings that you'll see on the Prospect List. Ranked ProspectsWalker JenkinsBrooks LeeEmmanuel RodriguezDavid FestaMarco RayaGabriel GonzalezCharlee SotoAustin MartinLuke KeaschallBrandon WinokurSimeon Woods RichardsonZebby MatthewsTanner SchobelKala'i RosarioDanny De AndradeCory LewisYasser MercedesCJ CulpepperConnor PrielippYunior Severino

MIranda has been healthy and I would say he's looked just fine at third base this year. I'm comfortable with Castro in LF, CF, 3B, SS... no worries there. And, it's impossible to believe that Martin has enough innings to be that low. Kinda destroys my confidence in these defensive stats. Not saying he's been good, but he's certainly not bad out there. If he had played short, maybe.

And, along with Wittgren, they've signed another Cleveland starter, Adam Plutko. He's working in Fort Myers to get ready for an assignment somewhere.

Adding Varland and Alcala to the bullpen would make a ton of sense, though I definitely get sticking with Varland as a starter. As for the SP mentioned: Mejia was nothing like the others. The Twins were in a different spot during those years and needed guys who could eat innings while other guys were developed. Now, instead of going to veterans with no upside but innings eaters, they are trusting the likes of Ryan, Ober, Varland, SWR, Festa, and eventually Raya (and some others like Matthews, Morris, Ohl, etc.). The Jackson signing was baffling to me right from the start (other than it being that Jharel Cotton role). Dyson was really good until that trade and he let people know he was hurt... and we found out he's a horrible person. Robles and Colome were solid pitchers. Barraclough was just like 99% of all minor-league free agent reliever signings. Every year, every team signs a few of them and hopes they don't have to use them too much and if they do, hopefully one turns out really good (like Brock Stewart, Caleb Thielbar when he came back to the org, etc.). I don't know who Barnes is. Totally blanking on relievers with that name.

Do you want him as the right-handed, fourth outfielder? Honestly, I think if Keirsey hit right-handed (or switch-hit), he'd be up now. But he's left-handed, just like Kepler and Larnach and Kirilloff and Wallner (and Castro is a switch-hitter). He deserves to be up with someone.

In general, it was a pretty disappointing day in the Twins organization, especially on offense. However, a couple of Kernels really put up some great at-bats on Saturday. And a lefty starter continues to be incredibly intriguing. There were some transactions to go with reports from six games. Find out all that happened in the Twins Minor League Report. Image courtesy of Seth Stohs, Twins Daily As you likely noticed, on Friday night and Saturday, we had some rather annoying and frustrating website issues. Fortunately, we believe those have been resolved, and we won’t have any issues for a long time. Because of that, I’m going to encourage you to check out Friday’s Minor League Report because it was written and ready to post on Friday night but didn’t get published until Saturday afternoon. . CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 24-18 St. Paul Saints: 18-24 Wichita Wind Surge: 16-21 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 23-14 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 15-23 FCL Twins: 7-3 Let’s get to the report. As always, please feel free to discuss and ask questions. TRANSACTIONS The Twins activated OF Byron Buxton from the Injured List and optioned OF Austin Martin to St. Paul. The Twins released RHP A.J. Alexy . Wichita activated RHP Travis Adams from the 7-Day IL. Fort Myers placed OF Jose Rodriguez on the 7-Day IL and activated infielder Yohander Martinez. SAINTS SENTINEL Resumed Game: St. Paul 4, Omaha 2 Box Score This game started on Friday night but in the middle of the fourth inning, it was tied 2-2 at that time so the game was suspended and started again on Saturday afternoon. On Friday, David Festa gave up two runs on four hits and two walks over four innings. He had four strikeouts. When play resumed on Saturday, Ronny Henriquez came in and struck out three batters over two scoreless, one-hit innings. Scott Blewett faced six batters over two perfect innings. He had two strikeouts. Jorge Alcala came on and threw a 1-2-3 ninth inning for his first Saints save of the season. The Saints got their two runs on Friday in the second inning when Tony Kemp hit his second homers since joining the team last month. Alex Isola scored on it. Isola reached on a double. With the score still tied at 2-2 in the bottom of the eighth, Michael Helman’s sixth homer of the season scored DaShawn Keirsey ahead of him and gave the team a 4-2 lead. Helman played the hero. He had two of the team’s four hits including the game-winning homer. Keirsey reached base on a walk and was hit by a pitch. Game 2: St. Paul 2, Omaha 4 Box Score Earlier this week, we learned that the Twins signed veteran left-handed pitcher Caleb Baragar to a minor-league deal and assigned him to St. Paul. He made his first start in the regularly-scheduled game on Saturday. An error cost him a bit in a three-run second inning. He was charged with three runs (1 earned) on six hits over 3 2/3 innings. He had six strikeouts and no walks. Austin Schulfer came on and got the final out of the fourth inning, stranding two baserunners. Nick Wittgren gave up a hit and issued a walk in a scoreless sixth inning. Hobie Harris worked the seventh inning and gave up one run on a solo homer. Down 3-0, Chris Williams put the Saints on the board when he hit his third home run of the season. In the bottom of the third frame, Michael Helman hit a solo home run to make it 3-2. That was it for the Twins scoring. Again, they had just two runs, and Michael Helman had two of the team’s four total hits (including another homer). WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 3, Tulsa 4 Box Score The Surge certainly put themselves in a good position to steal a win in Oklahoma, but the ninth-inning threat came up just short. The teams exchanged runs in the second inning. Jake Rucker drove in Kala’i Rosario with a line drive single to left field. Tulsa scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, but the Wind Surge responded in the top of the seventh frame with two runs of their own. Jorel Ortega’s first home run of the season drove in Rucker and tied the game at 3-3. However, Tulsa added a run in the bottom of the seventh on a bases-loaded walk to make it 4-3. Yes, I will get to that final play… But first… Travis Adams came off of the IL to make the start. He gave up one run on three hits over three innings. He had two strikeouts and no walks. Regi Grace gave up two hits and a walk, but he struck out two batters over his two scoreless innings. Jarret Whorff came in for the sixth inning. A walk, an RBI double, and an RBI single gave Tulsa that 3-1 lead. Ortega tied it, and Whorff went back out for the seventh inning. The right-hander walked the bases loaded. Miguel Rodriguez came in. He walked the first batter he faced to force in the go-ahead run for Tulsa. But Rodriguez settled in. He got a ground out to third, an out recorded at home. He got a strikeout for the second out and a fly out for the third out. Holding them to one run here was a very impressive feat. Alright, let’s go to the bottom of the ninth. Resetting the table, the Wind Surge were down 4-3. Jake Rucker led off with a walk, and Alerick Soularie came on to pinch run. Ortega singled with Soularie going to third. Ortega moved up to second on the throw. Runners on second and third, no out, down a run. The pitcher left the game with an injury. Emmanuel Rodriguez pinch hit for Ben Ross. Unfortunately, he struck out. Carson McCusker pinch hit for Kyler Fedko, and he struck out. Finally, Jeferson Morales struck out to end the game. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 7, Quad Cities 6 Box Score The Kernels jumped ahead early. Through four innings, they had a 6-0 lead. However, Quad Cities scored four runs in the top of the eighth and two runs in the top of the ninth to tie it. Of course, that allowed the Kernels to win in a walk off! Luke Keaschall gave the Kernels the very early lead with a home run to lead off the bottom of the first. With one out, Rubel Cespedes hit a triple and scored on a single to left by Jay Harry. The Kernels added two more in the third inning. Ricardo Olivar hit a one-out, solo home run to make it 3-0. With two outs, the Kernels got singles from Harry and Kevin Maitan. Misael Urbina followed with a single to center to drive in Harry with the fourth run. In the fourth frame, the Kernels powered their way to two more runs. With two outs, Keaschall hit another solo homer, his fifth of the season. Olivar followed with his second homer of the game and fifth home run of the season. Let’s jump over to the Kernels’ pitching on Saturday. Lefty Christian MacLeod made the start. He tossed 2 1/3 scoreless innings. He gave up two hits, issued a walk, hit a batter and had one strikeout. He reached the 50 pitch count, with 30 strikes. Jordan Carr came on and had a very nice appearance. He worked the next 4 2/3 scoreless innings. He gave up two hits, walked one and struck out five batters. That brings us to the eighth inning, the Kernels still holding that 6-0 lead. Sheldon Reed came into the game. He gave up four runs on three hits and a walk in 1/3 of an inning. Following a three-run homer off the bat of Kale Emshoff, Juan Mercedes came into the game. He got an infield pop out and a strikeout to end the eighth inning. Mercedes came back out for the ninth inning. He got two outs, but he gave up two singles. With two runners on, Brian Dinkelman went to his best bullpen arm, Ricardo Velez. He gave up a single to load the bases. Then Brett Squires then hit a two-run single to tie the game at 6-6. After a walk, Velez got the final out of the inning. That brings us to the bottom of the ninth inning. Rubel Cespedes lined a single to right. After a fly out The New Guy - aka Kevin Maitan - lined a triple to left field that drove in Cespedes with the winner. The Kernels scored their seven runs on 14 hits and three walks. Eight of the nine Kernels batters had at least one hit. The top five hitters each had at least two hits. Leadoff man Luke Keaschall led the way with a 3-for-5 day which included his fourth and fifth home runs. He also stole his 13th base. Olivar was 2-for-5 with his fourth and fifth homers of the year. Rubel Cespedes went 2-for-4 with a walk and his second triple. Jay Harry went 2-for-5 with a stolen base. Kevin Maitan went 2-for-5 with the walk-off triple. Check out David Malamut's photos from the Kernels game on Saturday. Follow him on X at @MWLArchives. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers 2, Lakeland 5 Box Score A four-run seventh inning for Lakeland made all the difference in this game. Other than that inning, the Mussels got some very good pitching. Frankly, the offense just didn’t do enough. So let's start with the pitching. Left Cesar Lares was on the mound and he was very, very good again. Lares went the first six innings. He was charged with an unearned run on five hits, two walks, and two hit batters. He had three strikeouts. Xander Hamilton came in to start the seventh inning, but he was charged with four runs on two hits and three walks without recording an out. He left the game with the bases loaded. Sam Perez came in and allowed two inherited runners to score, but otherwise gave up no runs on just one hit in his two innings. Byron Chourio had one of the team’s three hits and drove in a sixth-inning run with a ground out. In the seventh innings, Poncho Ruiz singled to center to drive in Brandon Winokur who worked two walks in this game. Gregory Duran had the other hit for Fort Myers. Rayne Doncon also had two walks in the game. In addition to lack of hits, the Mussels had three caught stealing. Because of that, the team was just 1-for-3 with runners in scoring position and left just two runners on base. COMPLEX CHRONICLES FCL Twins 1, FCL Red Sox 7 Box Score A five-run second inning by the Red Sox proved to be well more than enough to take down the FCL Twins on Saturday. 19-year-old Dylan Questad was the Twins fifth round pick a year ago out of high school in Wisconsin. On Saturday, he made his third professional appearance and his first start. He went 1 2/3 innings and gave up five runs on two hits and four walks. He had three strikeouts. He left the game with two runners on base. Liam Rocha came in and allowed both to score before getting that third out of the second inning. Rocha settled in and ended up giving up one run on five hits and a walk in 3 1/3 innings. He had four strikeouts. Alejandro Crisostomo struck out four batters over two innings. He gave up one run on no hits. He walked two and hit a batter. Similar to several of the above games, the FCL Twins offense just did very little. Ricardo Pena had two of the team’s three hits. Dameury Pena had the other one. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day – Luke Keaschall (Cedar Rapids) - 3-for-5, 2-HR(5), 2 R, 2 RBI. Pitcher of the Day – Cesar Lares (Cedar Rapids) - 6 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 82 pitches, 52 strikes (63.4%) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on the Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Saturday. Also, our Top 20 rankings will be updated on Monday, so be sure to check back and see how different it looks. #3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (Wichita) - 0-for-1, K #10 – Brandon Winokur (Fort Myers) - 0-for-2, 2 BB, R, CS #11 - Tanner Schobel (Wichita) - 0-for-4, K #12 – Luke Keaschall (Cedar Rapids) - 3-for-5, 2-HR(5), 2 R, 2 RBI, SB(13) #13 - Kala’i Rosario (Wichita) - 1-for-3, BB, 2B(12), R #16 – Yunior Severino (St. Paul) - Game 1: 0-for-4, 2K, Game 2: 0-for-3, K. #19 – Ricardo Olivar (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-5, 2-HR(5), 2 R, 2 RBI, K SUNDAY’S SCHEDULE AND PITCHING PROBABLES Omaha @ St. Paul (2:07 PM CST) - RHP Caleb Boushley (4-1, 4.54 ERA) (likely to change) Wichita @ Tulsa (1:00 PM CST) - RHP Pierson Ohl (2-2, 3.65 ERA) Quad Cities @ Cedar Rapids (1:05 PM CST) - RHP Darren Bowen (2-2, 4.43 ERA) Fort Myers @ Lakeland (11:00 AM CST) - LHP Ross Dunn (0-3, 2.37 ERA) Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Saturday’s games or any other Twins minor league topics! View full article

Zebby Matthews and Andrew Morris started on Wednesday afternoon for the Wind Surge and Kernels, respectively. That alone makes it worthwhile for you to continue reading today's minor-league report! Image courtesy of David Malamut (@MWLArchives on X, photo of Morris), Ed Bailey (photo of Matthews) CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 24-18 St. Paul Saints: 17-22 Wichita Wind Surge: 15-19 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 20-14 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 14-21 FCL Twins: 6-2 Let’s get to the report. As always, please feel free to discuss and ask questions. TRANSACTIONS Byron Buxton began a rehab stint with the Saints. . SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 0, Omaha 6 Box Score The up and down season of Louie Varland continued on Wednesday night in St. Paul. He gave up five runs in the second inning and another in the fifth frame. But in five innings, he gave up six runs (5 earned) on seven hits and a walk. He had six strikeouts. Ronny Henriquez came in and gave up one hit over two scoreless innings. Nick Wittgren walked one in a scoreless eighth inning. Ryan Jensen gave up one hit in a scoreless ninth. The big news heading into the game was that Byron Buxton began a rehab assignment. He batted second and played center field. He went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts. Yoyner Fajardo came into the game for him after the seventh inning. He went 1-for-1. DaShawn Keirsey went 2-for-3 with a walk. He stole his 11th base. That accounted for half of the Saints hits. Diego A. Castillo went 1-for-3 with a walk. The Saints 4th through 9th batters went a combined 0-for-21 with ninth strikeouts. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 7, Tulsa 1 Box Score At Twins Daily, we’re always trying to think ahead. What’s next? With that in mind, we recently purchased www.WillZebbyEverWalkAnotherBatter.com The URL. Another option is simply to rebrand the site and just call it Zebby Daily. For now, we’ll just write articles about him and follow his success during his starts in the Twins Minor League Reports. In his second Double-A start, Matthews gave up one run on three hits over five innings. He had six strikeouts and, you’ve got it, zero walks. Here are the updated numbers… Matthews has now thrown 34 1/3 innings this year. He has 43 strikeouts and ZERO walks. So, will he ever issue a walk? I mean, probably. As a professional, starting with two appearances after the 2022 draft, he has thrown 142 2/3 innings. He has 161 strikeouts to go with just 15 walks. But it’s one thing to not walk anyone. He is throwing a high percentage of strikes, pitches in the strike zone, and batters aren’t hitting him hard. His stuff has become very good as well, starting with a fastball that now touches 97 mph. Matthews gave up two hits and a run in the first inning. He responded by striking out the side in the second inning. Mike Paredes came on and tossed two perfect innings. He got five groundouts on a fly out. Regi Grace came in and got two outs. He gave up a hit, hit a batter, and issued a walk. John Stankiewicz came on and got the final out of the eighth inning and had a 1-2-3 ninth inning. After falling behind, the Wind Surge tied the game with a run in the third. Emmanuel Rodriguez hit a triple, and Jeferson Morales hit a double to drive him in. They broke it open in the fourth inning with five runs. With one out and the bases loaded, Kyler Fedko doubled to drive in two runs. Rodriguez walked to re-load the bases. After a pitching change, Morales and Noah Cardenas singled in a run each. Kala’i Rosario reached on a force out that scored the fifth run of the inning. The Surge scored one more in the seventh inning on a Jake Rucker opposite field homer. Morales led the offense. He went 3-for-4 with a walk, his sixth double and two RBI. Quietly Morales is now hitting .343 with a .911 OPS. Rodriguez went 2-for-4 with a walk and his second triple. Rucker was also 2-for-4. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 3, Quad Cities 0 Box Score Pitching wins, and a little-known fact, but if your team doesn’t give up any runs in a game, your team will win. That’s exactly what happened for the Kernels on Wednesday afternoon. Andrew Morris improved to 3-1 on the season with his best start of the year. The 22-year-old from Texas Tech tossed seven shutout innings. He gave up just one hit and issued no walks. He had six strikeouts. Morris was remarkably efficient. He needed just 73 pitches to get through seven innings. 54 were strikes. That’s an incredible 74%! Ricardo Velez came on and gave up two hits and a walk over two scoreless innings. He struck out four batters to earn his sixth save. With two outs in the bottom of the third inning, Luke Keaschall singled and stole second base. Rubel Cespedes walked. A wild pitch moved them up to second and third. Misael Urbina singled in the first two runs of the game. Urbina was not in the starting lineup. However, Danny De Andrade left the game early after fielding a ground ball. (photo from MWL Archives via Twitter) In the fifth inning, Willie Joe Garry led off with a single. Dillon Tatum followed with a walk. They advanced a base on a wild pitch. Keaschall drove in Garry with a sacrifice fly for the third run of the game. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers 1, Lakeland 16 Box Score It’s just one game. Just one loss. That’s all. Lakeland scored eight runs in the bottom of the first inning, and then added two runs in the second, the fourth, the fifth and the sixth innings. Paulshawn Pasqualotto was the Twins 12th round pick last summer out of Cal-Berkeley. In this game, he was charged with seven runs on five hits and two walks without recording an out. Samuel Perez allowed an inherited runner to score and another run in the first inning. He also gave up two runs in the second inning. He recorded six outs and gave up three runs on four hits and three walks. Ben Ethridge gave up two runs on one hit and one walk in two innings. He had three strikeouts. Juan Bonilla was charged with four runs on five hits and a walk in 1 2/3 innings. Aaron Holiday got the final out of the seventh inning and three more outs. He gave up one hit, walked three and struck out three batters. Brian Meyer went with a position player on the mound in the eighth inning. He had a 1-2-3 inning that included a strikeout. The Mussels managed just six hits and a walk in the game. Kyle Hess went 2-for-3. Jose Rodriguez was 1-for-3 with a walk. Payton Eeles went 1-for-2 and drove in the team’s only run with a sacrifice fly. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day – Jeferson Morales (Wichita) - 3-for-4, BB, 2B(6), 2 RBI, K, SB(2). Pitcher of the Day – Andrew Morris (Cedar Rapids) - 7 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K, 73 pitches, 54 strikes (74.0%) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on the Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Wednesday. #3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (Wichita) - 2-for-4, BB, 3B(2), 2 R, K #11 - Tanner Schobel (Wichita) - 0-for-4, BB, 2 K #12 – Luke Keaschall (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-3, R, RBI, SB(12) #13 - Kala’i Rosario (Wichita) - 1-for-5, RBI, K #15 – Danny De Andrade (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-1 (left with leg injury) #16 – Yunior Severino (St. Paul) - 0-for-4, 2 K THURSDAY’S SCHEDULE AND PITCHING PROBABLES Omaha @ St. Paul (6:37 PM CST) - RHP Randy Dobnak (3-3, 4.42 ERA) Wichita @ Tulsa (7:00 PM CST) - LHP Jaylen Nowlin (2-2, 3.33 ERA) Quad Cities @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 PM CST) - RHP Darren Bowen (2-2, 4.43 ERA) Fort Myers @ Lakeland (5:30 PM CST) - RHP Ty Langenberg (0-3, 4.44 ERA) FCL Rays @ FCL Twins (11:00 AM) - TBD Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Wednesday’s games or any other Twins minor league topics! 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John Vittas has been the play-by-play voice of the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels. We caught up with him on Tuesday to discuss his job responsibilities, but also some really young, talented prospects on the Mussels roster. Image courtesy of William Parmeter Fort Myers is a destination spot for Minnesota Twins fans in late February and March, as they flee the last rounds of winter weather and watch their favorite Twins players getting ready for the season on green grass. But baseball at the Twins facilities there does not stop. Right now, you can go there and watch an FCL Twins game in the afternoon, and then watch the Mighty Mussels play at night. Yesterday, we chatted with John Vittas, the Mighty Mussels' play-by-play guy. Can't get down to Fort Myers in-season? Well, this year, the Mussels - with a lot of work by Vittas - can be seen on MiLB.tv. But in this conversation, we spent time talking about some of the minor-league signings that have really contributed for the team, and some of the exciting young prospects on the roster. No update on Walker Jenkins, but you'll certainly want to hear the discussions on the likes of Brandon Winokur, Charlee Soto, Rayne Doncon, and much more. Hopefully you will be able to watch the full video, but if not, here is a quick timeline for if you need to come back a few times and watch it in pieces. 1:00: John Vittas discusses his background, from his time at the University of Maryland, to working at MLB Network, to joining the Charlotte Stone Crabs, to finally joining the Mighty Mussels in 2001. He also does a lot of Florida Gulf Coast University volleyball and basketball games for for ESPN, and more. 2:30: What is a typical day for him as the play-by-play guy? 4:30: John discussed what needed to be done to get their games on MiLB.tv, and how that's changed how he might call a game. 6:40: What advice would you give to a kid who thinks he or she wants a job in sports, or in sports broadcasting? 10:30: The impact of Payton Eeles in his first week in the organization. 12:05: Maddux Houghton had a huge April and has been one of the team's top performers. He joined the organization before the 2023 season and filled a utility role for the Mussels. This year, he's getting much more playing time. 13:40: The Twins signed Poncho Ruiz right after the draft in 2023. What a story! You'll definitely want to hear that, but now he has been one of the team's best players in May with the bat and behind the plate. 17:00: We learn how to pronounce the name Rayne Doncon, and I marvel at his tools. Vittas confirms that he is a guy that we should be following closely. 18:52: Minimal update on Walker Jenkins, but we discuss and marvel at the tools and athleticism of Brandon Winokur. He's split time between shortstop, third base, center and right field. Could he stick at shortstop? How quickly has he been able to make some adjustments? 22:00: Transition to pitching, starting with left-hander Cesar Lares who has been really, really good of late. He's got the pitches. He's gaining velocity. But find out which pitch has helped him take his performance to another level. Plus, he's fun to watch! 25:00: We have to talk about Charlee Soto, right? How has he looked in his first six starts? What is most impressive about him (and it's the same as Winokur and Jenkins)? He hits 98 and has "electric stuff", but Vittas talks about one of his other pitches that he didn't realize was so good. How are the Twins limiting him to attempt to build him up and keep him healthy and strong? 28:00: We briefly discuss the college pitchers that were drafted in 2023. Do they compare to the class from 2022? But I had to ask specifically about Ty Langenberg for the fans in Cedar Rapids who are excited to see him come back to Iowa. The Twins drafted him last summer out of the University of Iowa. Could he move up sometime this summer? 30:15: John volunteers the names of two relievers that he felt needed to be mentioned for how they've started the season. The goal is to catch up with John Vittas every two or three weeks to see what's going on with the Mighty Mussels and their prospects. In the weeks in between, we have discussed being able to bring in some of the team's players and/or members of the coaching staff, as well. I'm looking forward to that, but would love your feedback on it. The intent is for these to be a little shorter than the Twins Spotlight interviews that we do in the offseason. The initial conversation with the play-by-play voices might be 10 minutes longer, because I want them to be able to share their backgrounds, describe their day-to-day responsibilities and potentially give some advice to any kids who might be listening who are considering a career in sports or sports broadcasting. Let us know what you think? Which players/coaches would you like us to try to interview, and in general, what are your thoughts. If you are interested, I did another interview, Timber Rattlers Talk with Chris Mehring for Brewer Fanatic. He has been the play-by-play voice of the Brewers affiliate in Appleton/Grand Chute since 2000. Similar concept, but talking about the Brewers High-A prospects (which is a very intriguing group). I have more interviews set up this week and early next week for other play-by-play voices in the minor leagues for the Twins, Brewers and Cubs. View full article

John Vittas is the Radio Voice of the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels. While the team's record is not great (13-20), the roster has some very interesting names. We spent a little time getting to know John and the typical day in his in-season life. Then we talked about the team, especially some of the hitters who have done a nice job so far this season or are very intriguing. What has Payton Eeles brought to the roster and lineup? What has made Poncho Ruiz so successful of late? How did the Twins get the Dodgers to send them Rayne Doncon in the Margot/Miller trade? How has young Brandon Winokur looked at the plate and all over the field defensively? How good can Charlee Soto be? What has made Cesar Lares so incredibly good his past three starts? And how long before Ty Langenberg heads back to Iowa? View full video