Seth Stohs

Louie Varland appears to have figured some things out and should soon be back with the Twins soon. Our Minor League Hitter of the Month celebrated with another big home run on Saturday. Lefties Aaron Rozek and Jordan Carr were terrific. Connor Prielipp was back on the mound for the Kernels. Check out Saturday's Minor League Report. Image courtesy of Rob Thompson, St. Paul Saints CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 60-48 St. Paul Saints: 54-52 Wichita Wind Surge: 42-59 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 55-44 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 51-46 FCL Twins: 27-31 (season complete) DSL Twins: 23-19 TRANSACTIONS Poncho Ruiz was promoted from Fort Myers to Cedar Rapids. Isaac Pena transferred from Fort Myers to the FCL Twins roster. 2024 draft picks Kyle DeBarge (Comp), Billy Amick (2nd), Khadim Diaw (3rd) and Jaime Ferrer (4th) have been added to the Fort Myers roster and will be starting their professional careers. Cedar Rapids C Dillon Tatum has been released by the Twins organization. The Twins also released RHP Matt Helwig from the Mighty Mussels. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 5, Iowa 1 Box Score The Saints put a couple of crooked numbers on the scoreboard, and Louie Varland put together arguably the best start of his season, to gain a nice win in Des Moines. Let’s start with Louie! The St. Paul native tossed six shutout innings. He gave up five hits and one walk, and he had eight strikeouts. All five hits were singles. 70% of his 86 pitches were strikes. It’s really hard to ask for anything more than that. With one out in the top of the third inning, Edouard Julien got things started with a single. Yunior Severino followed with a single as well. A wild pitch put runners on second and third. Julien scored on a Jair Camargo ground out. Rylan Bannon walked. That brought Wynton Bernard to the plate and he drove in two runs with a double. The score remained 3-0 Saints until the bottom of the sixth inning. With one out, Payton Eeles triples to right and scored on a Dalton Shuffield double. With two outs, Shuffield scored on a single by DaShawn Keirsey that made it 5-0. Josh Winder had two strikeouts in a perfect seventh inning. Matt Bowman was charged with an unearned run in the eighth inning. Diego Castillo came in for the ninth. He gave up two hits, but no runs, to end the game with a 5-1 lead. The Saints notched eight hits and five walks. DaShawn Keirsey went 2-for-5 with an RBI. He also stole his 25th base of the season. Six other Saints had at least one hit. The two Saints starters that didn’t have a hit? Camargo still had an RBI, and Bannon walked twice. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 1, NW Arkansas 4 Box Score The Wind Surge got another very solid start from lefty Aaron Rozek on Saturday night, but the offense was just unable to provide the offensive support needed. The southpaw from Burnsville gave up two runs on five hits in 5 2/3 innings. He had eight strikeouts to go with no walks. Travis Floyd came on and gave up two runs (1 earned) on two hits and a walk in 1 1/3 innings. Kyle Bischoff came on and gave up just a walk and two strikeouts over two scoreless, hitless innings. Wichita went scoreless until the eighth inning. Jorel Ortega led off the inning with his eighth home run of the season. Two flyouts and a groundout ended that inning. In the bottom of the ninth, Aaron Sabato walked with two outs. But that was it and the Wind Surge fell 4-1. The Wind Surge had just six hits. Along with Ortega’s home run, Ben Ross’s 14th double of the season was the only other extra base hit. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 1, Great Lakes 6 Box Score Not much offense for the Kernels on Saturday night. The team managed just three singles and two (Nick) Lucky walks. In the game. Connor Prielipp was back on the mound for his second start with the Kernels. He gave up six runs on five hits and two walks in 2 2/3 innings. He had five strikeouts. Juan Mendez came on with two runners on and allowed both to score before getting the final out of the third inning. C.J. Culpepper came out of the bullpen for his second appearance since returning from the Injured List. Jordan Carr came in and tossed four shutout innings. He gave up three hits, walked none and had four strikeouts. That was the story of the game. Great Lakes scored their six runs all in the third inning. The Kernels got on the board with a run in the eighth frame. Nick Lucky scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Walker Jenkins. If you want, you can replace the word "Kernels" with the name "Oat Milkers," if you really want to. I couldn't do it. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers, St. Lucie (PPD, rain) Box Score Postponed by Rain. Game will be made up as part of a doubleheader on Sunday afternoon. Then, hopefully, those 2024 draft picks will be able to make their professional debuts. All for were in in the top six of the Mussels scheduled lineup for Saturday. Of note, with Tropical Storm (or maybe Hurricane) Debby's rain hitting Fort Myers starting tonight and through the weekend, it will be quite interesting to see if they play on Sunday, and if so, how?! Sounds like the "hurricane" will make landfall up in the "Big Bend" area of Florida. DOMINICAN DAILIES DSL Twins 3, DSL Tigers 2 Box Score Down 1-0 after a half-inning, the DSL Twins came to the plate. With one out, Daiber De Los Santos was hit by a pitch and stole second. Eduardo Beltre, the Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Month for July, hit his eighth home run of the short season to give the Twins a 2-1 lead. For most of the rest of the game, it was all about pitching. Melvin Rodriguez gave up two runs (1 earned) on six hits and a walk in 4 2/3 innings. He had five strikeouts. Sebastian Pulido gave up three hits over 2 1/3 scoreless innings. He had no walks or strikeouts. Aiberson Ventura pitched a perfect eighth inning to earn the win. That’s because, in the bottom of the eighth, Merphy Hernandez started the inning at second base. He reached third base on an interference call on the shortstop on a pickoff attempt to second. Soon after, Hernandez scored the winning run on a wild pitch. Not exactly the most exciting way to win a walkoff. The Twins had six hits and two walks, a far cry from Friday’s 21 run, 17 hit, 11 walk (14 wild pitch) performance. Victor Leal and Lis Fragoza each had a single and a walk. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day – Louie Varland (Saints) - 6.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K. Hitter of the Day – Eduardo Beltre (DSL Twins) - 1-for-3, HR(8), R, 2 RBI, HBP, K PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our recently-updated Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Saturday. And, be sure to note the new, updated Top 20 rankings. #1– Walker Jenkins (Cedar Rapids) – 0-for-3, RBI SF #2 – Brooks Lee (Minnesota) – 2-for-4, 2 RBI. #4 – Luke Keaschall (Wichita) – 1-for-4, 2 K #7 – Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids) – 1-for-3. #19 - C.J. Culpepper (Cedar Rapids) - 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K. 28 pitches, 18 strikes (64.3%) #20 – Connor Prielipp (Cedar Rapids) – 2.2 IP, 5 H, 6 ER, 2 BB, 5 K. 45 pitches, 31 strikes. (68.9%) SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS St. Paul @ Iowa (1:08 PM CST) – RHP Caleb Boushley, 4.47 ERA) NW Arkansas @ Wichita (1:05 PM CST) – RHP Travis Adams (4-6, 4.83 ERA) Great Lakes @ Cedar Rapids (1:05 PM CST) – RHP Ty Langenberg (3-0, 4.70 ERA) St. Lucie @ Ft. Myers (DH @ 11:05 AM CST) – LHP Cesar Lares (2-3, 4.40 ERA), RHP Charlee Soto (0-4, 5.64 ERA) Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Saturday’s games. View full article

The top five Twins minor league hitters for the month of July all have different experiences and at different levels. From Rookie Ball to Triple A. From a player who has been in the organization for six years, and one who signed less than four weeks ago. July is a very interesting month, in my opinion, in minor-league baseball. While transactions tend to start in mid-to-late June, there are a lot of promotions, demotions, additions and releases in July. The past three years, the draft has been a huge part of the month. The All Star break covers not only the big leagues but also minor leaguers get four days off too. There are lots of legitimate reasons for numbers to fluctuate during the month. One good example of this is a guy who you won’t see below, not in the top 5 and not among those honorably mentioned. Yasser Mercedes played 15 games for the FCL Twins to end their season. In those games, he hit .327/.411/.633 (1.044) with nine doubles and two homers. Incredible numbers, and notably, he had seven walks and nine strikeouts. However, the FCL season came to an end, and he was (rightfully) promoted to the Mighty Mussels so that his season could continue. He played five games with the Mussels and went 2-for-23, hitting .087/.160/.087 (.247) with no walks and 13 strikeouts. So, what’s more important? Being written about in your favorite Twins website for having a strong final three weeks of the FCL season, or the organization wanting to continue your season and push his development. We all know that answer, so I’m still going to mention Yasser Mercedes. Well, not after this point, but he got two paragraphs! What a great month for hitters in the Twins minor leagues! Unfortunately, it was one of the worst hitting months for the big league hitters. HONORABLE MENTIONS IF Ben Ross - Wichita Wind Surge - 21 G, 25-for-77, .325/.388/.494 (.882) with 4 doubles, 3 home runs, 12 R, 11 RBI, 6 BB, 19 K. 1B/2B/CF Luke Keaschall - Wichita Wind Surge - 20 G, 22-for-76, .290/.426/.513 (.939) with 2 doubles, 5 home runs, 15 R. 12 RBI, 12 BB, 14 K. IF/OF Nick Lucky - Fort Myers Mighty Mussels/Cedar Rapids Kernels - 19 G, 17-for-62, .274/.384/.565 (.948) with 2 doubles, 2 triples, 4 home runs, 10 R, 10 RBI, 9 BB, 24 K. OF Walker Jenkins - Fort Myers Mighty Mussels/Cedar Rapids Kernels - 17 G, 18-for-62, .290/.451/.419 (.871) with 3 doubles, 1 triple, 1 home run, 12 R, 15 RBI, 18 BB, 10 K. 1B Kevin Maitan - Cedar Rapids Kernels - 22 G, 23-for-85, .271/.319/.506 (.825) with 6 doubles, 1 triple, 4 home runs, 14 R, 11 RBI, 4 BB, 24 K. 1B Yunior Severino - St. Paul Saints - 18 G, 21-for-73, .288/.361/.507 (.868) with 5 doubles, 1 triple, 3 home runs, 12 R, 12 RBI, 9 BB, 21 K C Ricardo Olivar - Cedar Rapids Kernels/Wichita Wind Surge - 21 G, 24-for-77, .312/.407/.442 (.848) with 6 doubles, 2 triples, 14 R, 8 RBI, 13 BB, 14 K. THE TOP FIVE HITTERS Number 5 - Wichita Wind Surge - OF Carson McCusker - 22 G, 24-for-84, .286/.384/.548 (.931), 8 doubles, 1 triple, 4 home runs, 10 R, 17 R, 13 RBI, 10 BB, 22 K. After four years at Oklahoma State, McCusker went undrafted in 2021. He spent the 2021 and 2022 seasons with Tri-City in the independent Frontier League. That’s where he began the 2023 season as well, but after 37 games, he was hitting .433/.480/.822 (1.302) with 10 doubles and 17 home runs. The Twins noticed and signed him. He started with the Mighty Mussels and then contributed to the Kernels championship season to end the 2023 season. This season McCusker, who turned 26 in May, has spent the full season at Double-A Wichita. In 79 games, he has hit .274/.360/.446 (.806) with 20 doubles, two triples and nine home runs. He’s played an equal number of games in left field and right field while also DHing in about 25% of games. At 6-8, he looks the part of long-time Cleveland and Milwaukee slugger Richie Sexson. He has immense power potential to go with quite a bit of swing and miss. In July, McCusker was tied for the Twins minor-league lead with 17 runs scored. He ranked second in the organization with 24 hits, eight doubles, and four home runs. Number 4 - St. Paul Saints - C/1B Chris Williams - 20 G, 18-for-67, .269/.363/.627 (.989), 3 doubles, 7 home runs, 17 R, 14 RBI, 9 BB, 26 K. Williams was the Twins eighth-round pick in the 2018 draft out of Clemson. He was always a solid contributor as he moved up the organization. He made his first Triple-A appearance in 2022. In 42 games with the Saints, he had 10 home runs. Last year, he hit 21 homers in 95 games for the Saints. With 12 homer runs this season in St. Paul, he has passed Mark Contreras for the all-time Saints lead in home runs (yes, going all the way back to 2021). A slugger, Williams has played several positions this season to give him at least some extra theoretical flexibility. Along with 31 starts behind the plate, 11 starts in lefty field and six starts at first base. The past two seasons with the Saints, he had made 81 starts at first base with a combined 31 starts behind the plate. Reports indicate that he has made himself into a really solid defensive catcher, a guy that pitchers want to throw to In July, Williams led the Twins minors in home runs (7), runs scored (17) and slugging percentage (.627). He was top three in OPS (.990) and RBI (14). Number 3 - St. Paul Saints - C Patrick Winkel - 14 G, 18-for-50, .360/.396/.580 (.976), 2 doubles, 3 home runs, 12 R, 12 RBI, 3 BB, 13 K. The Twins have very aggressively pushed Winkel since he was the team’s ninth round draft pick in 2021 out of U-Conn. That summer, he played in 21 games in Fort Myers. In 2022, he missed the first month or more but played 54 games for the Kernels. In 2023, he hit .266/.362/.424 (.787) with 16 doubles and 10 homers in 88 games for Wichita. This year, the Saints pushed him straight to Triple-A. In 58 games with the Saints, he has hit .234/.292/.366 (.657) with 12 doubles and five home runs. In July, Jair Camargo spent a bit of time with the Twins which gave Winkel the opportunity to play a bit more, and he took advantage. While he is certainly known mostly for his plus-defensive skills behind the plate, he generally will take solid plate appearances. He gets a bit of a boost by me for being a catcher. 14 games is about what a catcher is going to get in the system, unless he gets some DH games. In July, Winkel had the second-highest Batting Average (.360), the third highest slugging percentage (.580), and the fourth-highest OPS (.976). Number 2 - Cedar Rapids Kernels/Wichita Wind Surge - OF Tyler Dearden - .400/.456/.550 (1.006), 9 doubles, 7 R, 11 RBI, 3 BB, 13 K. Way back in 2017, the Boston Red Sox drafted Tyler Dearden out of Rancocas Valley Regional High School in Mount Holly, New Jersey. The 29th round pick decided to sign. He spent that summer in the GCL. 2018 he spent with Lowell in shortened NY-Penn League. In 2019, he moved up to full-season ball, playing 60 games for Greenville. After a lost 2020 season, he returned to Greenville but they were now the organization’s High-A affiliate. He posted a .897 OPS and hit 20 doubles and 24 home runs in 97 games. In 2022, he played 94 games for Double-A Portland and hit .263 (.763) with 16 doubles and eight homes. He spent much of the 2023 season with Portland and got into two games for Triple-A Worcester. He became a free agent in the offseason and didn’t find a team to sign him. So, he went to the Atlantic League and signed with Long Island and the Fighting Lew Fords. OK, it’s the Long Island Ducks, and Lew Ford is their manager. In 55 games, he was hitting .361/.410/.634 (1.044) with 19 doubles and 12 homers when the Twins came calling. He signed on July 3 and spent five games with the Kernels (1.193 OPS) before moving up to the Wind Surge on July 11. In 11 games, he had hit .357/.429/.500 (.929). That’s a pretty solid first month in a new organization for the 26-year-old. In July, he led the Twins minor leagues in batting average (.400) and doubles (9). He was second in OBP (.456) and OPS (1.006) as well as hits (24). And the Twins Minor League Hitter of the Month is: DSL Twins - OF Eduardo Beltre - 21 G, 19-for-58, .328/.474/.586 (1.060), 3 doubles, 4 home runs, 13 R, 14 RBI, 12 BB, 20 K. Our choice for Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Month for July will not even turn 18 until mid-October. Eduardo Beltre was one of the top international prospects to sign in January. The Twins signed him out of the Dominican Republic for $1.5 million. Beltre’s season started a couple of weeks late due to a minor shoulder issue. However, right from the start, his bat was strong. In July, he led the organization with a .474 on-base percentage and a 1.060 OPS. He was second with a .586 slugging percentage and four home runs. He was third in batting average (.328) and RBI (14). In my personal rankings, I included Beltre at #30 recently. That is probably a bit too low. We want to congratulate DSL Twins Eduardo Beltre, Twins Daily’s choice for Minor League Hitter of the Month for July 2024. Feel free to share your thoughts and ask questions. View full article

Duffey is a really good dude. Hearing this spring that he had a form of cancer was a little scary. I believe he made a quote at the time about how just taking time to get it checked can be so valuable and well worth the time either for confidence in not having it or catching it early. Anyway, I've had this spot on the top of my head that's annoyed me for a long time. Thinking about the Duffey situation, I asked my doctor about it this spring, and she got me a referral to a dermatologist. I went, she was also curious about that spot, enough to shave a few layers of skin. They sent that in, and a couple days later, I found out that it was an early stage form of cancer. Not real worrisome by any means, but about two weeks later, I went back, she did a procedure that involved shaving a bit more skin, then burning the area (not fun, smelled weird), and then frozen, and it's gone... just checking back in six months. It's not something I've really written about, but I feel it's appropriate with this post because Duffey's quote from this spring made me request being referred. I'm sure many of you have gone through far worse. Turns out this was fairly minor, but still worth getting checked whenever you can.

Ranked ProspectsWalker JenkinsBrooks LeeEmmanuel RodriguezLuke KeaschallZebby MatthewsDavid FestaGabriel GonzalezCharlee SotoAndrew MorrisMarco RayaKaelen CulpepperBrandon WinokurAustin MartinYasser MercedesCory LewisConnor PrielippKala'i RosarioTanner SchobelDasan HillRicardo Olivar

Walker JenkinsBrooks LeeEmmanuel RodriguezLuke KeaschallAndrew MorrisZebby MatthewsAustin MartinCharlee SotoKaelen CulpepperYasser MercedesDavid FestaGabriel GonzalezMarco RayaRayne DonconBrandon WinokurDasan HillKala'i RosarioCory LewisRicardo OlivarDanny De Andrade

On Wednesday afternoon, the Saints got a big win down in Des Moines. On the east side of Iowa, the Kernels had a rough game, but the organization's top prospect notched a couple of firsts for his career. Image courtesy of Rob Thompson, St. Paul Saints The Minnesota Twins, St. Paul Saints, and Cedar Rapids all played on Wednesday afternoon. The Twins got a nice win. The Saints powered their way to a big win. And, well, things really didn't go well in Cedar Rapids, but there were a couple of a 'Firsts" for Walker Jenkins. A quick look at their scores, and clearly things didn't go well for Fort Myers and Wichita, but there were a handful of individual performances to be excited about. CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 59-48 St. Paul Saints: 52-51 Wichita Wind Surge: 41-57 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 55-41 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 50-45 FCL Twins: 27-31 (season complete) DSL Twins: 21-19 TRANSACTIONS The Twins placed RHP Brock Stewart on the 15-Day Injured List. The move made room on the roster to officially add RHP Trevor Richards. RHP Jarret Whorff was promoted from Cedar Rapids to Wichita. RHP Regi Grace was activated from the Injured List. OF Nick Lucky and RHP Spencer Bengard were promoted from Fort Myers to Cedar Rapids. RHP Adrian Bohorquez and LHP Cleiber Maldonado were assigned to Fort Myers from the Florida Complex. Kernels RHP A.J. Labas was released by the organization. Veteran RHPs Scott Engler and Jared Solomon were release from the Wichita offense. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 11, Iowa 0 Box Score The Saints jumped out to a quick lead. They scored in the first three innings of the game and had a 6-0 lead at the point. And, especially considering that it was a Bullpen Game for the Saints, they could not have asked for anything more. Ronny Henriquez started. He gave up just two hits over three scoreless innings. He had six strikeouts and no walks. Hobie Harris came in. He had three strikeouts and a walk over two scoreless, hitless innings. Things started out well in the top of the first. DaShawn Keirsey led off with a walk. After a strikeout, Yunior Severino connected for his 17th home run of the season to make it 2-0 Saints. The first two Saints batters of the top of the second got out. Keirsey singled and stole second base. He went to third on a throwing error. Edouard Julien walked and stole second base. With runners on second and third, Severino came up again and crushed his 18th home run of the season to make it 5-0 Saints. In the top of the third inning, Wynton Bernard led off with a home run to make it 6-0. After a couple of zeroes were placed on the board, DaShawn Keirsey led off the top of the sixth inning with his 11th home run which made it 7-0 Saints. Nick Wittgren took over and threw a scoreless eighth frame. The Saints added some extra, extra insurance in the top of the ninth. With the bases loaded, Julien drove in a run with a fielder’s choice. Severino added an RBI double. Jair Camargo drove in two more runs with his 10th double. Diego Castillo gave up one hit but tossed a scoreless ninth inning to maintain the shutout. Severino went 3-for-6 with his 11th double, his 17th and 18th home runs and six RBI. Keirsey went 2-for-4 with two walks and his 11th home run. Bernard went 2-for-5 with a walk and his fifth home run. Pat Winkel was 2-for-6. Payton Eeles was 2-for-4 with a walk. Julien had a double and two walks. #OldFriend Gilberto Celestino who was just traded to the Cubs from the Pirates last week, went 1-for-4 with a double and two strikeouts. For our friends at North Side Baseball, the positive for the Iowa Cubs was that reliever Daniel Palencia tossed two scoreless innings. He had three strikeouts and reached 100 mph with most fastballs. The one that hit Jair Camargo was "only" 99.2 mph. Moises Ballesteros went 1-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout. Owen Caissie went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. Both are Top 5 Cubs prospects. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 4, NW Arkansas 9 Box Score When you see a score like this one, one immediately thinks that it was pretty bad. But, even in a bad final score, a lot of really good things happened. First, Christian MacLeod's second Wind Surge start was strong. In 5 2/3 innings, he gave up two runs on four hits (2 homers) and two walks. He also had eight strikeouts. Second, in his second Double-A game, Ricardo Olivar went 5-for-5 with two doubles. Third, Ben Ross's terrific month of July ended with another three-hit game and a .210 season batting average. When July began, he was hitting just .169. However, the fact that he plays tremendous defense around the infield kept him in the lineup and everyone knew he'd eventually figure it out. He also stole his 12th base of the season. The Wind Surge had 16 hits in the game. Jake Rucker went 2-for-5 with his 17th double. Jorel Ortega went 2-for-4. Tanner Schobel, Kyler Fedko, and Tyler Dearden each hit a double. To the other side, the Surge went 5-for-21 with runners in scoring position and left 13 runners on base. Should I mention that Olivar had two errors behind the plate? Travis Floyd came in after MacLeod. He gave up two runs on two hits and a walk over 1 1/3 innings. John Stankiewicz gave up three runs on two hits and a walk in one inning. Kyle Bischoff then was charged with two unearned runs on one hit in the ninth inning. By the way, game-time temperature in Wichita was 103 degrees. Yuck! KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 3, Great Lakes 15 Box Score While the second-inning is when Jeremy Lee gave up runs, the first inning provided a look at what was to come. Lee started the game with two walks. He got an out on a fielder’s choice, but then issued another walk to load the bases. Fortunately, he was able to get another ground ball and the team recorded a double play to end the inning unscathed. He wasn’t as fortunate in the second inning. It started with a single which was followed by back-to-back walks to load the bases. A third straight walk gave Great Lakes the 1-0 lead. Then came a two-run double, and Jacob Wosinski was brought in with runners on second and third and nobody out. A Noah Miller groundout drove in the fourth run. Wosinski got a strikeout for the inning’s second out. However, after a walk, the fifth run scored on an errant pickoff throw. The final line for Lee included five runs (4 earned) on two hits and six walks in one inning. Wosinski allowed both inherited runners to score, but he gave up only an unearned run on one walk over 2 2/3 innings. He had three strikeouts. In the bottom of the third inning, already down 6-0, the Kernels put a couple of runs on the board. With one out, Walker Jenkins singled and stole second. Gabriel Gonzalez was hit by a pitch and the two runners advanced a base on a wild pitch. A Rubel Cespedes ground out gave the Kernels their first run. Rayne Doncon signed to drive in the second run Gabriel Yanez then gave up four runs (2 earned) on five hits in 1 1/3 innings. Juan Mendez walked two and struck out two batters over two scoreless, hitless innings. Matthew Clayton was picked to be the position-player pitcher. In the eighth inning, he gave up three runs on five hits. In the ninth inning, he gave up two more runs on just one more hit. He hit a batter. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Kyle Hess scored on a Dillon Tatum single. Way too little. Way too late. Misael Urbina went 2-for-3 with a walk. Kyle Hess had the lone extra-base hit, his fifth double. Walker Jenkins had his first Midwest League hit and stolen base. #OldFriend Noah Miller went 1-for-4 with a walk, his 13th double, a run and two RBI. He was also hit by a pitch. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers 6, St. Lucie 8 Box Score Fort Myers hosted the Mets Low-A affiliate from across the state. A four-run third inning gave the team a lead but they quickly fell behind. Through five innings, the game was tied at 6-6, but after that it was two, single-run innings from St. Lucie which gave them the win. Down 2-0 going to the bottom of the third, Maddux Houghton reached on an error. He stole second and later scored on a passed ball. Next, Byron Chourio walked. Yohander Martinez reached on an error. Chourio scored on a fielder's choice off of the bat of Yasser Mercedes. Martinez scored on a sacrifice fly to give the Mussels a 3-2 lead. Finally, Brandon Winokur singled to drive in Mercedes with the fourth inning. Going to the bottom of the fifth inning down 6-4, Angel Del Rosario led off with a walk. Poncho Ruiz singled Del Rosario to third. Winokur drove in a run with another single. After two outs, Ruiz scored on a wild pitch to tie the game at 6-6. That was about it for the Mussels on offense. Lefty Ross Dunn, a 10th round pick last summer, was charged with six runs (4 earned) on seven hits and a walk in 4 1/3 innings. He had three strikeouts. Kyle Bloor came on and gave up a run on two hits over 1 2/3 innings. Xander Hamilton gave up one run on three hits over two innings. Sam Perez had two strikeouts in a scoreless ninth. Winokur went 2-for-5 with the two RBI. Ruiz was also 2-for-5. Del Rosario was 1-for-3 with a walk and his fifth double. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day – Bullpen Game Pitchers (Saints) - 9.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 10 K Hitter of the Day – Yunior Severino (Saints) - 3-for-6, 2B(11), 2-HR(18), 3 R, 6 RBI, Ricardo Olivar (Wind Surge) - 5-for-5, 2-2B(2), R, RBI PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on the Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Wednesday. Rankings to be updated shortly. #1– Walker Jenkins (Cedar Rapids) – 1-for-5, R, 2 K #2 – Brooks Lee (Minnesota) – 1-for-4 #5 – Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids) – 0-for-2, BB, HBP, R #8 – Austin Martin (Minnesota) – 1-for-4, R, SB(7) #9 – Luke Keaschall (Wichita) – 0-for-3, BB, K #10 – Brandon Winokur (Fort Myers) – 2-for-5, 2 RBI, K. #13 – Tanner Schobel (Wichita) – 1-for-5, 2B(15), R, RBI, K #18 - Yunior Severino (St. Paul) - 3-for-6, 2B(11), 2-HR(18), 3 R, 6 RBI, K #20 - Ricardo Olivar (Wichita) - 5-for-5, 2-2B(2), R, RBI THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS St. Paul @ Iowa (6:38 PM CST) – RHP Adam Plutko (3-7, 5.34 ERA) NW Arkansas @ Wichita (6:05 PM CST) – RHP Andrew Morris (5-2, 1.28 ERA) Great Lakes @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 PM CST) – RHP Darren Bowen (2-5, 5.94 ERA) St. Lucie @ Ft. Myers (6:05 PM CST) – RHP Tanner Hall (2-0, 5.61 ERA) Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Wednesday’s games! View full article

Some impressive negativity here... Jeepers! Granted, Headrick has only recently been throwing some bullpens, so he's not an option anytime soon, and he's going to spend plenty of time rehabbing/with the Saints to be cautious and also just to show he would be comfortable in the roll. I'm no fan of Okert. If he's throwing strikes, he's solid. If not, it's a mess. That's true, really, with all three lefties. Funderburk is the one with some potential. There is no reason for them to mess with Prielipp at this point. To think of him in a MLB role right now makes no sense. Richards' splits help. Getting Topa back will help. And getting Varland back in the bullpen. No reason to do anything crazy.

Out of curiosity, why would the outcome of one game alter their thinking?

The nice part is that there is no reason for the Twins to rush Prielipp. Add him to the 40-man roster when required and keep the patience. I don't care if he's called up a 24, 25, or 27... Just when he's ready.

Saturday in the minor-league parks, I'm pretty sure it is the 27th of July. Image courtesy of Ed Bailey, Wichita Wind Surge It was a Zebby Day! Connor Prielipp made his first non-rehab appearance for the Kernels in over a year. The Wind Surge offense was great, and somehow their pitching held on for a Wild Win. There was little offense in the Fort Myers and DSL Twins lineups on Saturday. Check out all that happened, and please make your voice heard. First, Rank the Twins Top 20 Prospect here. Second, leave some feedback in the comments, not only about today's article, but also about your thoughts on the daily minor league reports. What do you like? Love? Skip? What can we do better? Is our focus in the right place on these? Let us know. CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 57-46 St. Paul Saints: 50-50 Wichita Wind Surge: 40-55 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 53-40 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 49-43 FCL Twins: 27-31 (season complete) DSL Twins: 19-19 TRANSACTIONS The Twins activated Jose Miranda from the injured list. To make room, Edouard Julien was optioned to St. Paul. In very good news, RHP C.J. Culpepper was activated from the Kernels 7-Day Injured List. In Fort Myers, outfielder Carlos Aguiar was placed on the 7-Day Injured List with a left calf strain. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 2, Omaha 9 Box Score It was Zebby Day in St. Paul on Saturday, and of course, he had no walks. But it was probably the first Zebby Day of the season that didn’t go well. In four innings, he gave up four runs on nine hits (one homer). He gave up two runs in the second inning and single runs in the third and fourth innings. Josh Winder came on and gave up three runs on four hits (2 homers) and a walk in two innings. He struck out three batters. Nick Wittgren came on and gave up two runs on two hits (1 homer). Caleb Baragar and Hobie Harris each threw a scoreless innings. The Saints scored both of their runs with two outs in the bottom of the fourth. Chris Williams singled and scored on a Wynton Bernard home run. At the time, the Saints cut their deficit in half (4-2), and that was about it. Bernard went 2-for-4. The homer was his fourth of the season. He also stole his 14th base. The Saints had just other hits in the game. Jair Camargo hit his ninth double, and Rylan Bannon hit his 16th double. #OldFriend Tyler Duffey got the final four outs for Omaha, one on a strikeout. His Triple-A ERA is now 2.17. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 10, Amarillo 9 Box Score There was a bit of an offensive shootout deep in the heart of Texas. Well, Amarillo is in that northern piece of Texas that, if they’d kept the pattern of North and South Dakota and Kansas, would have been part of a rectangular Oklahoma. Instead, like Nebraska, Oklahoma decided to go with a panhandle. Anyway, not sure if Amarillo is in “the heart of Texas” or not, but it is in the Texas panhandle. And, there was a high scoring affair between the Wind Surge and the Sod Poodles on Saturday night. Through three innings, the Surge held a 1-0 lead. They added three in the top of the fourth, but Amarillo counted with two of their own to make it 4-2. The Surge scored two in the fifth, one in the sixth and three runs in the top of the 7th inning to take a 10-2 lead. I’m sure the lead felt pretty safe. However, Amarillo scored three in the bottom of the seventh and four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning. The Wind Surge went scoreless in the top of the ninth frame meaning that they were clinging to a 10-9 lead with three outs to go. Kyle Bischoff, making just his second Double-A appearance, got the final out of the eighth inning and tossed a perfect ninth inning to hold on and record his first save with the Surge. Cory Lewis started and did well. He gave up two runs on three hits (1 home run) and three walks. He struck out six batters. Ricardo Velez came on and got four outs. He was charged with two runs on three hits and a walk. He had two strikeouts. Jared Solomon got two outs, but not before giving up a three-run homer. Scott Engler gave up four runs on two hits and two walks in just 2/3 of an inning. He left with two runners on. Bischoff came on and both runners scored, but he did record three strikeouts and his first save. In the fourth inning, Tyler Dearden singled to lead off the top of the inning. After a strikeout, Jeferson Morales and Tanner Schobel hit back-to-back home runs that made it 4-0. In the top of the fifth, Luke Keaschall led off with a home run to make it 5-2. Jake Rucker singled, and after a pitching change, Dearden doubled him to third base. Carson McCusker drove in Rucker with a sacrifice fly. With two outs in the sixth inning, Jorel Ortega was hit by a pitch. He advanced on an errant pickoff attempt and scored on a Keaschall single. (7-2) In the top of the seventh inning, Dearden led off with a single. McCusker followed with an RBI double. After Morales reached on error, Schobel doubled to drive in McCusker. Morales advanced to third base and scored on an Andrew Cossetti ground out. The Surge had a 10-2 lead and held on, barely, for the win. Dearden led the way with a 4-for-5 day with two doubles. He’s now hitting .406 with a 1.018 OPS in nine games with the Wind Surge after hitting .500 (1.193) in five games with the Kernels. And before that, he was hitting .361 (with a 1.044 OPS) in 55 games for Lew Ford and the Long Island Ducks. The 26-year-old had spent the 2017 through 2023 seasons in the Red Sox organization. Schobel went 2-for-5 with his 14th double and fifth home run. He went back-to-back with Morales whose homer was his sixth of the year. McCusker went 2-for-4 with his 19th double. Keaschall went 2-for-6 with a seventh home run since joining Wichita. Ben Ross went 1-for-3 with two walks. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 1, Quad Cities 4 Box Score Earlier in the week, Connor Prielipp was activated from the 60-Day Injured List. On Saturday in Quad Cities, he made his first Kernels start in over a year. Obviously, the Twins will be quite cautious with such a young and talented arm. In this game, he had four strikeouts over the first two innings. He gave up no runs and two hits, but he walked none. He threw 32 pitches and 22 were strikes. Ricky Castro came on for his first Kernels appearance. He gave up four runs (two earned) on four hits and a walk over the next four innings. He had two strikeouts. Jacob Wosinski struck out two batters over two shutout, hitless innings. He had one walk. For the fifth time in five games this series, the Kernels took the first lead. With two outs, Rubel Cespedes knocked a single. He stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error. He scored on a Kevin Maitan single. And that was it for the Kernels scoring. They had just one more hit over the final eight innings. Maitan had another single. He ended the day 2-for-3 with a walk. The Kernels had seven walks. Misael Urbina and Kyle Hess each walked twice. The team was just 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left nine on base. After winning the first two games of the series, Quad Cities had won the past three games. On Sunday, C.J. Culpepper will be returning to the mound to face exciting Royals’ LHP prospect Frank Mozzicato. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers 2, Dunedin 5 Box Score The Mussels offense was held scoreless for the first eight innings. By that point, they were down 5-0. They had a minor comeback attempt in the ninth that came up well short. Charlee Soto made his 16th start of the season. He was charged with two runs on three hits over four innings. He had four strikeouts and no walks. He took the loss and fell to 0-4 on the season. Of course, that doesn’t matter at all since: 1.) The Twins are going to be very patient with such a young pitcher, 2.) he is averaging 3 1/3 innings over his 16 starts, and 3.) He doesn’t even turn 19 until the final day of August. Of the 50 pitches, Soto threw 38 strikes, an incredible 76% strike rate. Devin Kirby came on for his first Mussels appearance. He gave up two runs on one hit, three walks, and a hit batter in the fifth inning. He had two strikeouts though. Tomas Cleto gave up one run on one hit and one walk over the next two innings. He had two strikeouts. Juan Mercedes struck out a batter in a perfect ninth. Through the first eight innings, the Mussels had just three hits, all singles. In the top of the ninth, Brandon Winokur led off with his second triple of the season. He scored on a ground out. Next, Nick Lucky hit his fifth homer since joining the team a month ago. This one was of the Inside-the-Park variety. Lucky and Maddux Houghton each went 2-for-4 in the game. Houghton stole his 14th base. Winokur had a walk to go with his triple. Walker Jenkins went 0-for-2 but walked twice. Yasser Mercedes has had a tough start with the Mussels. He was promoted when the FCL season ended earlier this week. In three games with the Mussels, he is 1-for-14 (.071) with seven strikeouts after going 0-for-4 with 4 strikeouts on Saturday. DOMINICAN DAILIES DSL Twins 0, DSL Mets 4 Box Score Melvin Rodriguez was the starter for the Twins in this game, and the 18-year-old was fantastic. He tossed five shutout innings and gave up just two hits and no walks. He had one strikeout. Manuel Compres came on and had a perfect inning. He started the seventh, and it didn’t go well. A walk was followed by two stolen bases. Then two more walks loaded the bases. Fabian Herrera came on in relief, trying to keep the game tied 0-0. The first batter he faced popped out to first base, but the runner from third scored to make it 1-0 on the sacrifice fly. A wild pitch put runners on second and third. The next two batters had RBI singles, and a fourth run scored on an error. The Twins offense was pretty non-existent in this game. They had two singles and a walk. Merphy Hernandez went 1-for-2 and was hit by a pitch. He also stole his 23rd base of the season. Alver Medina had the other single, and Ricardo Paez worked the walk. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day – Melvin Rodriguez (DSL Twins) - 5.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, K Hitter of the Day – Tyler Dearden (Wichita) - 4-for-5, 2-2B(4), 2 R PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on the Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Saturday. Help(!) us update our Top 20 rankings by ranking the players here. #1– Walker Jenkins (Fort Myers) – 0-for-2, 2 BB, K #2 – Brooks Lee (Minnesota) – 0-for-4, #5 – Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids) – 0-for-2, BB, HBP, K. #7 – Charlee Soto (Fort Myers) – 4.0 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 50 pitches, 38 strikes (76.0%) #8 – Austin Martin (Minnesota) – 0-for-2, BB #9 – Luke Keaschall (Wichita) – 2-for-6, HR(7), R, 2 RBI, 3 K #10 – Brandon Winokur (Fort Myers) – 1-for-3, BB, 3B(2), K. #13 – Tanner Schobel (Wichita) – 2-for-5, 2B(14), HR(5), R, 2 RBI #14 – Zebby Matthews (St. Paul) – 4.0 IP, 9 H, 4 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 84 pitches, 58 strikes (69.0%) #15 – Cory Lewis (Wichita) – 5.0 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, 75 pitches, 44 strikes (58.7%) #17 – Connor Prielipp (Cedar Rapids) – 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, 32 pitches, 22 strikes (68.8%) SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Omaha @ St. Paul (2:07 PM CST) – RHP Louie Varland (3-7, 5.34 ERA) Wichita @ Amarillo (6:05 PM CST) – LHP Aaron Rozek (4-3, 1.88 ERA) Cedar Rapids @ Quad Cities (1:00 PM CST) – RHP C.J. Culpepper (2-1, 3.26 ERA) Ft. Myers @ Dunedin (11:00 AM CST) – LHP Cesar Lares (2-3, 4.37 ERA) Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Saturday’s games! View full article

Fun day in the Twins minor leagues. In fact, we've got lots of bonus content in today's minor-league report. You'll even enjoy reading through how our Top 20 Twins prospects did on Wednesday. Draft Talk. Business of minor-league baseball. And some great performances. Could the Mussels throw back-to-back No Hitters? Kernels got very strong pitching! Wind Surge made a late comeback attempt with the help of, well, you can probably guess. And the Saints had a couple of rehabbers and a great start. And, and the Twins welcomed 21 newly-signed players to Fort Myers and the Twins organization. Check it all out below. Image courtesy of William Parmeter CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 55-45 St. Paul Saints: 48-49 Wichita Wind Surge: 38-54 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 53-37 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 48-41 FCL Twins: 27-31 DSL Twins: 18-17 BUSINESS OF MINOR-LEAGUE BASEBALL Remember the limits on minor-leaguers in an organization changed again in 2024. Each MLB team fields five minor-league teams in the United States. There are four full-season affiliates and one “complex” affiliate. Just three years ago (2021), teams were limited to 180 players . This year, that number has been reduced to 165 active players on domestic minor-league rosters. This doesn’t include the Dominican Summer League. In addition, teams can have up to 15 players on the 60-Day (or Full-Season) Injured List. However, players on the 7-Day IL count toward the 165 player limit. So, what does this mean? Well, as players come off of the 60-Day IL, if the organization is at 165, someone would need to be released. Also, the Twins just drafted 22 players. As they sign and are placed on rosters, the organization needs to remain at 165 players or fewer. I bring this up because there are likely to be several tough releases over the coming weeks. Some of that started yesterday as the Twins released four players from the organization. You can keep up with the 2024 Twins draft picks here. It was updated with a lot of player signings on Wednesday. Have they signed? How much? Under or over slot? Two signings worth looking at are Competitive Balance pick Dasan Hill and 11th round pick Michael Carpenter. PROSPECT RANKINGS First, if you missed my updated Top 30 Twins prospects blog posted yesterday, please check it out and share your thoughts. Twins Daily is in the process of updating our Top 20 Twins Prospect rankings. You can participate in that ranking. Click here to rank your Top 20 Twins Prospects. TRANSACTIONS With the Twins early-afternoon game, RHP Ronny Henriquez was optioned to St. Paul, and David Festa was recalled to be the “bulk” pitcher against the Phillies. In addition, RHP Brock Stewart was added back to the Twins roster. Infielder Diego A. Castillo was DFAd to make room for him. Castillo is likely to clear waivers and remain with the Saints. He had a couple of nice moments, highlights in his brief stint in the big leagues. Following the Twins game, Jair Camargo was optioned to Saint Paul. The Twins have an off day tomorrow, but there will certainly be at least one more move made on Friday to make room for the two players in the next paragraph. Royce Lewis played in his second rehab game for the Saints, and Jose Miranda played in his first rehab game. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 6, Omaha 2 Box Score The Saints welcomed Bernie, well, Terry Kiser (of Weekend at Bernie's fame) out to toss the ceremonial first pitch. Also, how is that movie 35 years old!!?? What a classic! Caleb Boushley has had a very nice season with the Saints. He’s even been called up to the Twins a couple of times. He is currently off of the 40-man roster but continues to pitch well in St. Paul. On Wednesday, he gave up one run on four hits over six innings. He walked one and struck out three batters. He is now 9-4 this year with an ERA of 4.47. Nick Wittgren came on and gave up one run on one hit and one walk in his inning. Matt Bowman gave up two hits in the eighth inning, but no runs. Diego Castillo got the ninth inning and struck out two batters. The Saints scored in the first three innings of this game to give them a 4-0 lead. Omaha scored their two runs in the middle innings, but St. Paul scored two more in the eighth inning for the final runs on the game. The Twins had two of their players rehabbing at CHS Field on Wednesday. Royce Lewis batted second and was the DH. He went 1-for-3 with a walk, a double, and a strikeout. He doubled in the first inning and came around to score on a single by Yunior Severino. Jose Miranda batted third and played third base. He went 2-for-4 in the game. Severino went 3-for-4 with a walk and his 10th double. Wynton Bernard went 2-for-4 with two doubles and two RBI. Rylan Bannon went 1-for-3 with two walks. Payton Eeles went 1-for-3 with a walk and his sixth stolen base. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 3, Amarillo 7 Box Score Let’s just jump right to the eighth inning because that’s where the action really started, at least if you’re a Wind Surge fan. The Surge were down 3-0 and had approximately an 11-percent chance of winning. To that point, they had just two hits in the game. However, Tanner Schobel led off the inning with a single, and Ben Ross walked. Suddenly their odds of winning jumped to nearly 18-percent. A wild pitch moved runners to second and third. However, the next two batters struck out without a run scoring, so the odds of winning were down to just under 8-percent. That brought Luke Keaschall to the plate. After watching two pitches come in just wide of the plate, he got a pitch right down the middle, and he did exactly what good hitters should do with pitches right down the middle. He launched a ball well beyond the fencing in left-center field to tie the game at 3-3. While the majority of his home runs have come to lead off the game for his team, this has to be the most clutch to date. Wichita’s Win Probability surged from 8-percent to about 43-percent. And then the Sod Poodles scored four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to take a 7-3 lead and the Surge were unable to score in the ninth. Travis Adams made the start for the Surge and gave his team a Quality Start. In six innings, he gave up three runs on six hits. He walked three and had two strikeouts. Sure, he got a little help from his friends too. Sometimes that friend can be your 5-8 catcher/outfielder. And sometimes it is really nice to have a 6-8 right fielder. Cody Laweryson pitched a scoreless seventh inning. However, he was charged with all four run in the eighth inning (three were earned). He exited a 4-3 game, and Miguel Rodriguez got the final two outs. However, that final out came after all three inherited runners scored. Keaschall provided the big, timely hit for Wichita, but the team had just five hits and two walks Schobel went 1-for-3 with a walk. Jake Rucker hit his 16th double. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 6, Quad Cities 2 Box Score The Kernels spread out their runs. They scored right away, a couple of times in the middle, and maybe most important, they added insurance runs late to take the win down in Davenport. Cedar Rapids scored the first run in the top of the first inning. With one out, Ricardo Olivar and Gabriel Gonzalez singled. Then with two outs, Rubel Cespedes singled to center to drive in Olivar, but he tried to make it a double and was thrown out. Quad Cities scored two runs in the bottom of the third frame to take the lead, but the Kernels responded quickly with a pair in the fourth. With two outs, Nate Baez walked. Misael Urbina followed with an RBI double. Jose Salas came up and singled to center to drive in Urbina with the team’s third run. The score remained 3-2 through seven innings thanks to some fantastic pitching from the two Kernels pitchers. Let’s jump to the pitching because the Kernels got two very strong performances on Wednesday night. Brooklyn Park’s John Klein improved to 7-2. He tossed the first six innings and gave up two runs on four hits. He walked three and struck out seven batters. Jarret Whorff came on and was perfect for the final three innings to record his first save of the year. Five of the nine outs came via the strikeout. Back to the batters. Where were we? Oh yeah, the score remained 3-2 through seven innings, but that’s when Cedar Rapids added some insurance which, I guess, makes a lot of sense now that I overthink it. Cespedes led off the eighth with a walk. He advanced to third base on a double by Baez. A wild pitch allowed Cespedes to score the fourth run. Unfortunately, that was followed with two strikeouts and an infield pop up which left Baez stranded at third base. On to the ninth inning, with one out, Olivar doubled and moved to third on a ground out. Kevin Maitan wasn’t going to strand him. He (presumably) wanted to get a pitch he could drive into the outfield, deep enough to score Olivar. Instead, on the eighth pitch of the at-bat, Maitan got a pitch at the bottom of the zone and hit one far enough into the outfield that it went over the fence in right-center for a two-run homer. That gave the team a more-comfortable 6-2 lead, though on this night, Whorff didn’t necessarily need insurance. It’s still nice to have. Olivar led the Kernels offense. He went 4-for-5 with his 16th and 17th doubles. Gabriel Gonzalez went 3-for-5 with his 11th double. Urbina went 2-for-4 with his 12th double. Maitan’s home run was his sixth since joining the Kernels. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers 8, Dunedin 1 Box Score With three runs in the third and three more runs in the fourth inning, the Mussels got strong pitching and cruised to a nice win on Wednesday night in Dunedin. How did their pitching staff compare to the previous night’s no-hitter? I think we can say they did quite well! Maddux Houghton led off the top of the third inning with his third home run of the season. He found himself down in the count 0-2 but worked it back to full before launching a ball 355 feet onto the berm in left field. With one out, Yohander Martinez was hit by a pitch. Walker Jenkins followed with his third home run of the season to make it 3-0. It appears Jenkins might have been guessing slider (or at least something offspeed) as he hit the first pitch out of the yard. Dunedin scored one in the bottom of the third to make it 3-1. In the top of the fourth inning, Poncho Ruiz singled to right, and Rixon Wingrove singled to left to start the inning. Seeing both record opposite field hits had to make the Mussels coaching staff feel good. After one out, Houghton was able to reach on an error. Ruiz scored and the Mussels had runners on second and third with one out. After a line out for the second out, Martinez walked to load the bases. Following a pitching change, Jenkins went the opposite way for a two-run single that made it 6-1. That’s how the score remained until the top of the eighth when, with two outs, Houghton singled to drive in Ruiz. Then in the ninth, Martinez walked and advanced to second and then third on a couple of wild pitches. Jenkins walked. With one out, Brandon Winokur hit a sacrifice fly to center to drive in the team’s eighth run. Jenkins went 2-for-4 with a walk, a homer, and four RBI. Houghton was 2-for-4 with a home run. Martinez reached three times, twice on walks and once when he was hit by a pitch. No, No… I didn’t forget to mention the pitching staff that held Dunedin to just one run in nine innings on Wednesday. Sure, it wasn’t a six-inning no-hitter like the Mussels had on Tuesday, but this performance was fantastic. Paulshawn Pasqualotto gave up one run on just one hit, a solo homer, over the first four innings. He walked one and had six strikeouts. Tomas Cleto came on and struck out three batters in 1 2/3 scoreless, hitless innings. Jack Noble got the next four outs, two came on strikeouts. Sam Perez struck out two batters over two perfect innings to close out a very nice, all-around win. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day – John Klein (Kernels) - 6.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 7 K, or Jarret Whorff (Kernels) - 3.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K. (9 up, 9 down) Hitter of the Day – Ricardo Olivar (Kernels) - 4-for-5, 2-2B(17), 2 R, or Walker Jenkins (Mussels) - 2-for-4, BB, HR(3), R, 4 RBI PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on the Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Wednesday. #1– Walker Jenkins (Fort Myers) – 2-for-4, BB, HR(3), R, 4 RBI #2 – Brooks Lee (Minnesota) – 1-for-4, K #4 – David Festa (Minnesota) – 4 1/3 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, 73 pitches, 46 strikes (63.0%) #5 – Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids) – 3-for-5, 2B(11), K #8 – Austin Martin (Minnesota) – 0-for-0, SH #9 – Luke Keaschall (Wichita) – 1-for-4, HR(5), R, 3 RBI, K #10 – Brandon Winokur (Fort Myers) – 0-for-4, SF, RBI, K . #13 – Tanner Schobel (Wichita) – 1-for-3, BB, R, K #18 – Yunior Severino (St. Paul) – 3-for-4, BB, 2B(10), R, RBI, K #20 – Ricardo Olivar (Cedar Rapids) – 4-for-5, 2-2B(17), 2 R THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Omaha @ St. Paul (7:07 PM CST) – RHP Randy Dobnak (8-5, 3.79 ERA) Wichita @ Amarillo (7:05 PM CST) – LHP Christian MacLeod (first AA start) Cedar Rapids @ Quad Cities (6:30 PM CST) – RHP Jeremy Lee (1-3, 3.90 ERA) Ft. Myers @ Dunedin (5:30 PM CST) – RHP Spencer Bengard (6-2, 1.79 ERA) FCL Twins @ FCL Orioles (9:00 AM CT) - TBD DSL Marlins @ DSL Twins (10:00 AM CST) - TBD Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Wednesday’s games! View full article

#31: Daiber De Los Santos #32: Miguel Cordero #33: Jaime Ferrer #34: Patrick Winkel I added a few more because, first, Martin already shouldn't be on the list... so adding #33 brings in another 2024 draft pick who, in your question, we need to make sure he signs, so I went to #34 and added Winkel. I'll also say this... they aren't going to select a guy in the top 10 rounds if they aren't going to sign them. They will sign.

I don't think they should try to pass him through again. But, never know. Maybe that's a good reason to not push him to AA, so other teams may say it's not likely he'll be ready to stick in 2025.

That's not a crazy thought. I'd say make the case for him over Jenkins or Lee. It can be done.

I'll be surprised if we don't see Zebby Matthews making starts for the Twins down the stretch. No recent updates on Canterino, but you're not wrong. His stuff, when healthy, is incredible.

My guess is he'll stay in CR the full season. No rush. After this season, he can get added to the 40-man roster and start next season at Wichita (which is where he will start next year even if he gets called up there at the end of this year). Once he's got a little AA Success under his belt, he can help the big league club. Until then, they'll have Jeffers and Camargo for 2026 and beyond.

Why? Let's let him pitch a few games before pushing him too fast. Let him get re-acclimated to the mound. He won't be pitching in the big leagues this year, so we hope for next year and what's best for him.

As noted in my previous response, Prielipp is no longer on the IL, back with the Kernels. Let's hope he can stay healthy. I would generally agree with your thoughts on the guys that won't be back. I try not to think much about that in-season. But a look at the roster spots, several are likely givens, or nearly givens. Jeffers, Camargo, Lee, Lewis, Correa, Julien, Miranda, Larnach, Buxton, Wallner... Lopez, Ryan, Ober, SWR, Duran, Jax, Varland, Alcala, Festa. It'll be more about adding to that group. ERod could debut next year. Morris, Matthews, Raya, MacLeod, Lewis, Jones, Keashall, Severino. Obviously not all will and there will be moves and trades and struggles and such.

100% Even his rehab this time around has been quick. Just saw that he's been activated by the Kernels. He's off the IL.

Correct. When we started this vote round, he was several plate appearances and days from surpassing that point, but then he came back quickly.