Tom Froemming

I haven't seen a specific target date set, but I imagine he'll continue to see a decent amount of time at DH for the next couple weeks at least. He did play second base on back-to-back days prior to DHing yesterday, so that's encouraging.

Young Charlee Soto is a golden ticket! He turned in another impressive start for the Kernels in what was an evening full of big dubs across the minor league system. All four Twins affiliates tasted victory Friday night. A sweet sweep! Image courtesy of David Malamut (photo of Charlee Soto) CURRENT W-L Records St. Paul Saints: 5-5 Wichita Wind Surge: 4-3 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 4-3 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 3-4 TRANSACTIONS The Twins recalled RHP David Festa from St. Paul. Austin Martin placed on the Saints 7-day IL with a hamstring strain. LHP Gabriel Yanez promoted from Cedar Rapids to St. Paul. RHP Logan Whitaker promoted from Fort Myers to Cedar Rapids. RHP Cole Peschl assigned to Fort Myers. Darren Wolfson reports the Twins will re-sign Darren McCaughan, who elected free agency yesterday, to a new minor league deal. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 6, Omaha 4 Box Score Luke Keaschall is on the board! He slugged his first Triple-A home run in the bottom of the third inning on a center cut hanging slider. Keaschall is rising to the challenge at the top level of the minor leagues, showing little signs of struggle despite this only being his second full pro season. He also had a single, a walk and a sac fly tonight. Keaschall has a .415 OBP and .834 OPS in 10 games so far with the Saints. Brooks Lee started at shortstop, continued to look comfortable moving around and played the entire game. He singled in the first inning, drew a walk in a seven-pitch plate appearance in the third, struck out in the fourth and grounded out in the sixth but busted it up the line to avoid a double play. It feels like Lee could re-join the Twins any day now. The Saints trailed this game 4-2 entering the bottom of the fourth inning, but an RBI single from Anthony Prato and a Keaschall sac fly tied things up in the bottom of the frame. Carson McCusker blasted an impressive two-run homer in the sixth inning that proved to be the difference. He’s off to a blistering start, boasting a 1.067 OPS so far this season. Manager Toby Gardenhire had to turn to his bullpen to cover this entire game and that unit stepped up. The St. Paul pen combined to strike out 15 batters tonight, with Alex Speas and Kyle Bischoff leading the way with five Ks each in their two innings of work. Speas topped out at 99.5 mph and Ryan Jensen — who started tonight but is typically a reliever — touched 99.1 mph. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 4, Midland 1 Box Score The Wichita lineup struggled to take advantage of opportunities, but thankfully the pitching staff was on point. The Wind Surge collected 11 hits and six walks but could only convert that to four runs due to going 3-for-16 with runners in scoring position. The Surge staff allowed a fair amount of traffic themselves, but after starter Trent Baker allowed one run over four innings, the bullpen trio of Michael Martinez (one inning), Angel Macuare ( 2 2/3 innings) and Joel Cesar (1 1/3 innings) shut out the RockHounds. Tanner Schobel continued his hot start by going 3-for-4 with a walk. Jake Rucker and Andrew Cossetti also had multi-hit games. Kyler Fedko hit his first homer of the season KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 6, Beloit 4 Box Score Charlee Soto picked up his first strikeout when he needed one most. After allowing a leadoff double in the second inning, the Sky Carp bunted the runner over to third. Soto got ahead of the next hitter 0-2, but was still trying to finish him off three pitches later. Then Soto unleashed a 99 mph fastball above the zone to pick up a huge strikeout. The next hitter flew out to left field, ending the threat and the inning. Soto struck out the next five hitters consecutively, looking both as dominant and confident as I can ever recall. He needed only 66 pitches to complete five innings, throwing two-thirds of them for strikes. The leadoff double in the second inning was the only base runner he allowed. With six strikeouts tonight, Soto now has 11 Ks in nine shutout innings so far this season. He’s Twins Daily’s top pitching prospect in the system for a reason, but seeing him meet this new challenge of High-A with such success early is impressive. Logan Whitaker followed Soto and surrendered four runs in his one inning of work. The Twins 19th-round pick in last year’s draft was making his 2025 and High-A debut, but beginner’s luck was nowhere to be found. Cedar Rapids got the go-ahead run into scoring position in both the sixth and seventh innings but could not score. Caden Kendle, who hit his first homer of the season earlier in the game, hit a one-out double in the eighth. Instead of the Kernels’ lineup failing to deliver for a third-straight inning, Misael Urbina promptly delivered a go-ahead RBI double. Later in the inning, Brandon Winokur hit a two-out double of his own to deliver an insurance run. Rayne Doncon exited this game in the bottom of the second inning. He appeared to be in pain after fouling back a pitch. Doncon eventually exited with a trainer, and it was later reported as a back injury. Kaelen Culpepper also did not complete this game, but that’s consistent with how he’s been handled so far. Culpepper missed part of spring training, so he’s not playing complete games yet. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers 6, Tampa 3 Box Score The Mussels were on the board before they recorded an out tonight. Byron Chourio led off the bottom of the first inning with an eight-pitch walk before Dameury Pena singled to left field. Yasser Mercedes capped an eight-pitch at-bat of his own with a double he hit 107.1 mph into center field and off the wall. A great way to get things started, and Fort Myers kept tacking on. In all, the Mighty Mussels lineup provided six runs of support for starting pitcher Eli Jones. Jones was pitching out of the stretch for most of the first three innings, but managed to only give up a pair of runs despite the Tarpons getting their leadoff man on in each of those first three frames. Jones got some big strikeouts, and racked up six Ks while topping out at 95.2 mph. Cole Peschel, who just joined the Mighty Mussels today, covered the final four innings and only yielded an unearned run. Fort Myers bats with multi-hit games included Mercedes, Dameury Pena and Jefferson Valladares. Jay Thomason had a double, two walks and stole three bases. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day: Charlee Soto (Cedar Rapids): 5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K, 66 pitches, 44 strikes (66.7%) Hitter of the Day: Caden Kendle (Cedar Rapids) 2-for-4, 2B, HR (1), 2 R, 1 RBI PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for more. 3. Luke Keaschall (St. Paul): 2-for-2, HR (1), BB, 2 R, 2 RBI 4. Charlee Soto (Cedar Rapids): 5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K, 66 pitches, 44 strikes (66.7%) 7. Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-3, 2B 8. Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids): 2-for-4, 2B, BB, K, 1 R, 2 RBI 13. Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-4, 2B, BB, K, R 15. Yasser Mercedes (Fort Myers): 2-for-4, 2B, 2 RBI 16. Rayne Doncon (Cedar Rapids): 0-for-1, K (exited with a back injury) 17. Billy Amick (Cedar Rapids): 2-for-3, 2 BB, K 18. Kala’i Rosario (Wichita): 0-for-4, 3 K 19. Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-4 TOMORROW’S PROBABLE STARTERS Cedar Rapids vs. Beloit, 1:05 pm CT: Alejandro Hidalgo St. Paul vs. Omaha, 2:05 pm CT: Randy Dobnak Wichita vs. Midland, 4:05 pm CT: Connor Prielipp Fort Myers vs. Tampa, 5:05 pm CT: Dasan Hill View full article

The Minnesota Twins committed a pair of painful, embarrassing errors that the Royals took advantage of. Not only did the Twins lose the game 2-1, but they also may have lost Pablo López, who exited with an apparent hamstring injury. Down on the farm, there are highlights to share of Zebby Matthews, Brooks Lee, Tanner Schobel, Darren Bowen, Dylan Questad and Dameury Pena. View full video

After falling 4-2 at Kansas City Monday night, the Twins are now 3-7 to start 2025. I should have a more witty way to get this recap started, but sometimes the facts say all you need to say. Image courtesy of © William Purnell-Imagn Images Box Score Starting Pitcher: Simeon Woods Richardson 5 2/3 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 4 BB, 6 K, 1 HER, 107 pitches, 63 strikes (58.9% strikes) Home Runs: None Bottom 3 WPA: Woods Richardson -.155, Carlos Correa -.132, Christian Vázquez -.099 Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs): Rocco Tossed Rocco Baldelli often presents himself as more corporate than coach, but he’ll stand up for his guys and chew out an ump when the situation calls for it. In the bottom of the sixth inning, home plate umpire Nic Lentz called a pitch clock violation on Simeon Woods Richardson. It was on a 3-2 count, so the call resulted in a walk. Prior to the pitch, it looked like there may have been some issues with the PitchCom device between Woods Richardson and catcher Christian Vázquez. Woods Richardson stepped off the rubber, but was not granted a disengagement by the umpire, for whatever reason. That delay cost them some time on the clock, but it seemed clear that the righty still started his delivery with two seconds to spare. Like most situations, whether he was right or wrong, the ump stuck to his original call. I’m sure Baldelli knew he had no chance of changing the call, but he couldn’t just let that slide. It was Baldelli’s 17th career ejection but first since 2023. Just Put It In Play (No, Not Like That!) Monday continued an odd trend for the Twins lineup, where they put the ball in play but have nothing to show for it. It’s an encouraging shift in organizational approach, but it’s difficult to get too excited about it when the results aren’t there. Twins hitters posted the highest strikeout rate in the league back in 2023 at 26.6%. They managed to slash that all the way down to 21.3% last year, which was one of the lowest 10 K rates across baseball. The Twins entered tonight at 23.2 K% so far in 2025, slightly above league average. While contact has not been a major issue this season, production is a different story. The Twins entered tonight ranked 29th in on-base percentage and 27th in slugging. They only struck out five times tonight but that only translated to seven hits and two runs. There were eight balls the Twins hit in excess of a 95 mph exit velocity tonight that resulted in outs. They had five batted balls with an expected batting average over .500 that were outs. These things are bound to happen, but when you’re struggling it’s just more salt in the wound. The league, as a whole, is running a .285 BABIP so far this season, a rough number that could indicate the ball is slightly deader than in the past few campaigns. It's too early to be sure either way on that front, but not too soon to wonder about the efficacy of the Twins' approach. Woods Richardson Eclipses 100 Pitches The Twins needed some length from their starter tonight. In the early going, it didn’t appear that was going to happen, as Woods Richardson threw 66 pitches over the first three innings. To his credit, the junior member of the Twins rotation grinded through 5 2/3 innings. It wasn’t a great start, but he did throw a career-high 107 pitches. Not exactly heroic stuff, but it beats most of what his rotation mates have delivered so far this season. He only eclipsed 100 pitches once in his 28 starts last season. It’s early April, not mid-August. Bullpen fatigue shouldn’t be such a topic of focus this early, but here we are. This was only the second time in 10 games that a Twins starting pitcher recorded an out in the sixth inning. Ode to the Mop-Up Man Pablo López technically leads the Twins in innings pitched with 12, but that’s just because the mop-up role has been a revolving door. If we treat that spot on the pitching staff as one player instead of three, the mop-up man has accounted for 13 innings. Randy Dobnak opened the year in the role and provided 5 1/3 innings in his one outing. His reward was being DFA’d. Darren McCaughan took over the role and provided another 5 1/3 innings over three games pitched. He was DFA’d this morning to make room for a fresh arm, Scott Blewett. Blewett finished off tonight’s game for Woods Richardson, covering the final 2 1/3 innings. He, much like Dobnak and McCaughan, pitched great. That trio of mop-up men have combined to throw 13 innings and have only surrendered two earned runs on eight hits and three walks. We salute you, mop-up men. Thank you for your service … but don’t get too comfortable. Spring Training Vibes To my eye, the level of energy the Twins are bringing into these games feels similar to what you’d typically see in spring training. This feels like a group of guys trying to get work in, going through the motions and trying to remove a winter’s worth of rust. It’s not as if their opponents have been playing with an October intensity, but they’ve consistently flet more awake and alive than the Twins. While it’s true that the baseball season is a marathon, you don’t see many marathon runners walk the first mile and a half. It’s not as if the Twins have prioritized rest, either. Sure, Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton have been taken out of a few games early, but both have also started all 10 games for the Twins so far this season. That’s typically a recipe for success, but instead it’s an example where even a piece of good news can be viewed negatively when you’re in a slump. Had Correa and/or Buxton missed time during this poor season-opening stretch, at least we’d have an excuse to point toward. Correa and Buxton have stunk so far. They’re going to play better than this, but the question is for how much of the season are they both going to be in the lineup together? Sure, the Twins are missing some other guys, but it feels like they need to maximize the periods in which both Correa and Buxton are on the field together. That’s not happening. Postgame Interview Bullpen Usage Chart THU FRI SAT SUN MON TOT Varland 20 0 16 15 0 51 Blewett 0 15 0 0 31 46 Alcalá 11 0 23 0 0 34 Topa 0 0 17 10 0 27 Durán 0 0 8 13 0 21 Sands 0 0 11 10 0 21 Jax 0 0 0 17 0 17 Coulombe 0 0 0 8 0 8 View full article

The Minnesota Twins rode a six-run fourth inning to victory Saturday. Jose Miranda hit a three-run homer and the bullpen delivered five shutout innings. Down on the farm, a couple of the top lefties in the system made debuts — Connor Prielipp making his Double-A debut and Dasan Hill making his pro debut for Fort Myers. Also, Rayne Doncon hit a big home run for Cedar Rapids. View full video

A couple of premium left-handed pitching prospects were making significant debuts tonight. Connor Prielipp made his Double-A debut for Wichita while Dasan Hill made his pro debut with Fort Myers. Come see how those two did and check out what else happened across the system Saturday. Image courtesy of John Vittas- Fort Myers Mighty Mussels CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 3-5 St. Paul Saints: 2-3 Wichita Wind Surge: 0-1 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 2-0 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 1-1 TRANSACTIONS None SAINTS SENTINEL Today’s Saints game was postponed due to rain. That will be made up when St. Paul returns to Columbus later this month. WIND SURGE WISDOM Springfield 6, Wichita 2 Box Score Connor Prielipp made his Double-A debut tonight, but he wasn’t on the mound for too long. We’re accustomed to that being the case, of course, but it’ll be interesting to see how the Twins manage him this year. Prielipp only needed four pitches to record the first two outs of the game, but Springfield made him work before he got out of the first inning. The next four Cardinals batters reached safely, they scratched across a run and squeezed 21 more pitches out of Prielipp. In the second inning, Prielipp retired the side in order, striking out the first two batters. He went back out for the third inning, but hit the leadoff man, his second hit batsman of the game. That was it for the Wind Surge lefty. He went two innings and threw 47 pitches. The Wichita lineup couldn’t get much of anything going. Tanner Schobel and Ricardo Olivar led off the second inning with back-to-back singles. The next batter, Jorel Ortega, hit into a double play and the Wind Surge recorded just one more hit up until the ninth inning, a leadoff single in the sixth by Walker Jenkins. Noah Cardenas drew a one-out walk in the ninth before Schobel hit a double. Olivar then grounded out, but it was enough to bring Cardenas home and end the shutout bid. Ortega followed that up with a wind-aided popup double the left fielder couldn’t handle to give Wichita their second run. The ninth-inning rally was halted there, however, as the Wind Surge dropped their first game of the season. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 6, Wisconsin 4 Box Score With Cedar Rapids trailing 1-0, Brandon Winokur and Billy Amick drew back-to-back one-out walks, prompting a pitching change. Rayne Doncon quickly fell behind 0-2, but took a ball in the dirt and managed to foul off a pitch way inside. Wisconsin tried to jam Doncon again, but he crushed a breaking ball like he knew it was coming, slugging a three-run homer. The Timber Rattlers wrestled the lead back in the bottom of the fifth. They tallied a pair of runs off Kernels starter Alejandro Hidalgo, who went four innings in his first start since September of 2023. Jeremy Lee, the first man out of the pen for Cedar Rapids, gave up two more runs in his inning of work. From there, the pen had it on lock. Gabriel Yanez and Paulshawn Pasqualotto both delivered two shutout innings. That bought the Cedar Rapids lineup some time to mount a second comeback. In the top of the seventh, a pair of singles by Caden Kendle and Kyle DeBarge, followed by a wild pitch, put two runners in scoring position. Winokur managed to tie the game at 4-4 with an RBI groundout. The top of the eighth started with a pair of walks followed by a hit-by-pitch to load the bases with no outs. Another wild pitch brought home Doncon to put the Kernels up 5-4 and Kendle later added an RBI groundout to tack on an insurance run. Cedar Rapids was 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position, but the one hit was Doncon’s home run. Sometimes one’s all you need. Kaelen Culpepper, who was removed in the eighth inning of Friday’s game, did not play today. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers 6, Springfield 4 Box Score Dasan Hill made his pro debut and did not disappoint. The Twins drafted the lanky lefty in the second round (69th overall) in the 2024 Draft. Still only 19 years old, it was no guarantee we’d see him break camp with a full-season squad, so it’s a treat just to have him out on the mound this early. That he was completely dominant is a cherry on top. Hill struck out seven batters in four innings of work, got 13 swinging strikes, and topped out at 97.6 mph. He did not walk a batter. The only hit he surrendered was a solo home run. The Texas native threw 34 of his 50 pitches for strikes. The Mighty Mussels lineup helped take the pressure off of Hill by scoring three runs in the top of the second inning. Poncho Ruiz singled and later scored on an error before Angel Del Rosario added a two-run single. All three runs came around with two outs in the inning. Jose Rodriguez hit his first home run of the season in the sixth inning, and the Mussels manufactured two more runs in the eighth. Yasser Mercedes drew a leadoff walk, stole second base, advanced to third on a throwing error, and eventually scored on a wild pitch. Fort Myers scored another run on a wild pitch later in the same inning. Jason Doktorczyk, 2024 ninth-round pick, also made his pro debut in this game. He struck out six batters over three innings, but also gave up three runs (two earned) on three hits, three walks and a hit batsman. Ivran Romero, who went undrafted after pitching out of the University of San Diego’s bullpen for four years, also made his pro debut tonight. He delivered two shutout innings while striking out three batters. Leadoff man Byron Chourio reached safety in three of his five plate appearances, hitting two singles to go with a walk. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day: Dasan Hill (Fort Myers) 4 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7 K Hitter of the Day: Rayne Doncon (Cedar Rapids) 1-for-3, HR (1), 2 R, 3 RBI, 2 BB PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for more. 1. Walker Jenkins (Wichita): 1-for-4, K 8 Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids): 0-for-4, R, RBI, BB, K 10. Connor Prielipp (Wichita): 2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 2 HBP, 47 pitches (31 strikes) 11. Dasan Hill (Fort Myers): 4 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, 50 pitches (34 strikes) 13. Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-5 15. Yasser Mercedes (Fort Myers): 0-for-4, 1 R, 1 BB, 2 K, SB 16. Rayne Doncon (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-3, HR (1), 2 R, 3 RBI, 2 BB 17. Billy Amick (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-4, 2B, R, BB, 2 K 18. Kala’i Rosario (Wichita): 0-for-3, BB, 2 K 19. Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-4, R, BB, 2 K 20. Ricardo Olivar (Wichita): 1-for-4, RBI, 2 K TOMORROW’S PROBABLE STARTERS St. Paul at Columbus (2:05 pm CT): Randy Dobnak Wichita at Springfield (3:05 pm CT): Trent Baker Wichita at Springfield (Game 2): Aaron Rozek Cedar Rapids at Wisconsin (3:20 pm CT): Tanner Hall Fort Myers at Palm Beach (1:30 pm CT): Michael Ross View full article

The Minnesota Twins are finally in the win column! The earned a come-from-behind victory against the White Sox, finally getting some batted ball luck. Down in the minors, Zebby Matthews looked about as good as you could imagine in his first start of 2025 for the Saints and Austin Martin provided three defensive gems in left field. View full video

Mikey Gasper picked up his first MLB hit, but that was about all that went well for the Minnesota Twins on Saturday. They lost to the Cardinals 5-1, with the top of the lineup of Matt Wallner, Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton providing nothing. As a whole, the lineup produced just three hits. Joe Ryan pitched well, holding St. Louis to one run over five innings, but the bullpen struggled. View full video

Bailey Ober pulled a repeat of his 2024 season debut by getting absolutely pounded once again. Much like he did in his first start of last season, Ober surrendered eight earned runs. That gave the Twins little chance, but the lineup wasn’t exactly inspiring either. Here’s a look at Ober’s outing, Carlos Correa’s slow start and some info on a couple of other teams that started 0-3. View full video

The Minnesota Twins opened their 2025 season with a 5-3 loss in St. Louis. Here’s a detailed look into the first two innings of the game, highlighting how the Cardinals built momentum and set the tone early. The Twins did a nice job battling back, pulling within a run at one point, but could not complete the comeback. View full video

There’s a lot to get excited about in St. Paul this season, as the Saints have one of the more stacked Triple-A rosters the system has ever produced. It was all on display Friday night at CHS Field. Image courtesy of Rob Thompson, St. Paul Saints CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 0-1 St. Paul Saints: 1-0 Wichita Wind Surge, Cedar Rapids Kernels, Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: All open play on April 4. FCL Twins: Open play in early May. DSL Twins: Open play in early June. TRANSACTIONS There were no new transactions on Friday, but the Saints just announced their 2025 roster yesterday. In case you missed it, here’s a link to Seth’s full preview of this year’s Saints squad. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 11, Indianapolis 0 Box Score Opening Day Lineup A lot has been made about how stacked the Saints rotation is, and for good reason, but this is also a good-looking Triple-A lineup with both guys who’ve seen time in the majors and some of the top prospects in the entire system. Here’s how the lineup looked for the opener: LF Austin Martin DH Luke Keaschall CF Emmanuel Rodriguez 3B Armando Alvarez 1B Mike Ford C Jair Camargo RF Yunior Severino 2B Jeferson Morales SS Ryan Fitzgerald Keaschall and Rodriguez, both still only 22 years old, are the headliners. Keaschall is has recently begun working some in the field, but he’ll likely DH a good amount in the early going. Rodriguez missed most of spring training with an ankle injury, so it’s amazing to not only see him active, but in center field. Keachall was making his Triple-A debut. Severino and Morales started positions in which they’re trying to establish themselves. Severino has mostly been a first baseman and third baseman in recent years, but he made 10 starts in right field last season. Morales, the 2025 Sire of Fort Myers, has mostly played left field with some catching mixed in, but he made 22 starts at second base for Wichita last year. More positional flexibility will open up more potential doors to the next level, so it’s worth monitoring how Severino and Morales do in these opportunities. Opening Day Starting Pitcher I’m sure David Festa would rather be in the big leagues, but being the Saints No. 1 starter is a somewhat significant honor in itself. Zebby Matthews, Andrew Morris, Marco Raya and Cory Lewis are all also with the Saints. This rotation is absolutely stacked. Festa has a case for belonging at the highest level, however, as he pitched to a 3.81 ERA (3.15 FIP) over his final 54 1/3 innings with the Twins last year. With the entire Twins rotation entering the year healthy, Festa will have to bide his time. Lucky for him, it never seems to take too much time for an opportunity to present itself. Festa’s current situation reminds me a lot of the position Bailey Ober was in entering 2023. Big Bailey was clearly worthy of the majors and had 31 MLB starts under his belt. Despite that being the case, a crowded rotation of more senior hurlers led to Ober opening 2023 with St. Paul. He only had to make four starts with the Saints before the door opened up for his return. Festa Gets His Work In While Festa doesn’t necessarily have anything to prove in Triple-A, there are a couple things he needs to work on. It’d be great if he could be more efficient, giving him more of a chance to pitch deeper into games. Tonight, Festa only needed 58 pitches to complete five innings, throwing over two-thirds of them for strikes. Since he’s still building up arm strength, Festa wasn’t given the opportunity to go more than five frames, but he emphatically checked the efficiency box. The other thing that would be great to see from Festa is a fourth pitch. He can be successful with his four-seam fastball, slider and changeup — we’ve seen it — but one more look could take his game to the next level. While it can take the Statcast/Hawk-Eye technology a few outings to calibrate to a new pitch mix at times, we’ll take it for face value. According to the data, Festa only threw his new sinker once. Again, that may or may not be accurate, but that pitch should be something Festa continues to tinker with. Rodriguez’s Hot Start It was great just to see Emmanuel Rodriguez’s name in the lineup, but he even treated us to a couple of his signature beautifully violent swings that produced three hits to the opposite field. Rodriguez collected the first Saints hit of the 2025 season with an oppo single in the first inning. He followed that up by also collecting the first RBIs of the season, lacing a two-run double that had an exit velocity of 113.6 mph. Rodriguez struck out swinging in the fourth inning, drew a four-pitch walk in the sixth inning and then hit a single in the seventh frame. Heck of a debut from a guy we weren’t even 100 percent sure would be out there. Keaschall’s Triple-A Debut Luke Keaschall is a consensus top-60 or so prospect in all of baseball, logged 59 games at Double-A last year and got a long look in spring training. It’s difficult to paint his opening the year in St. Paul as a surprise, but it also wouldn’t have been a shock if he returned to Wichita instead. He’s also still in the final stages of recovering from Tommy John surgery, after all. Keaschall, the DH, was retired in his first two at-bats before collecting his first Triple-A hit and RBI in the fourth inning. After another strikeout, Keaschall added a second single in the seventh inning. Saints Dominate Along with Emmanuel Rodriguez, Jair Camargo also recorded three hits. Every Saints hitter had a multi-hit game except for Mike Ford, who managed to draw a pair of walks. The lineup scored 11 runs without the benefit of a home run. The bullpen was similarly impressive. After Festa went five, Scott Blewett covered a pair of innings before Kyle Bischoff and Kody Funderburk pitched a frame each. Combined, those relievers pitched four shutout innings with one hit, a pair of walks and five strikeouts. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day: David Festa (5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K) Hitter of the Day: Emmanuel Rodriguez (3-for-4, 2B, BB, R, RBI, K) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for more. 2. Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul): 3-for-4, 2B, BB, R, RBI, K 3. Luke Keaschall (St. Paul): 2-for-6, RBI, 2 K 5. Andrew Morris (St. Paul): DNP 6. Marco Raya (St. Paul): DNP 9. Cory Lewis (St. Paul): DNP TOMORROW’S PROBABLE STARTERS Saints: Andrew Morris View full article

The Minnesota Twins played their final spring training game this afternoon and appear to have finalized their opening day roster. Randy Dobnak is currently in position to break camp with the big club. Other topics discussed include an update on the Pohlads’ sale expectations, the TV situation, Luke Keaschall’s recovery from Tommy John surgery and the race for Sire of Fort Myers. View full video

Dobnak only pitching in two official spring games was what worked against him as much as anything. Tough to crown a guy who participated in that few games. It's part of why there's never been a starting pitcher to win Sire of Fort Myers. It would basically require that someone eligible were competing for a big league rotation spot. Otherwise, the guys just don't get into many games. I might have decided that anyone on the 40 man who still has rookie eligibility would be eligible. As it stands, it's anyone on the 40 man who hasn't debuted at all. I'm sticking with that, but the race would have been a lot closer this year under ever so slightly different eligibility rules. On Morris, he's a September baby, kinda on the fence between school years. His parents put him in school early, so he was already young for his grade. Then when they eventually moved (I wanna say to Alaska), for some reason they pushed him another year ahead in that new school district. Don't know the whole story there, but bottom line is he's been facing older/more developed competition his whole life. I believe he was part of the college program at 16 but didn't appear in a game until after he'd turned 17. That's how he'd pitched four years of college ball and was still only 20-years-old when drafted.