Tom Froemming

Minnesota Twins 2024 sixth-round pick Derek Bender has been released. ESPN's Jeff Passan and Kiley McDaniel reported that, while catching, Bender was tipping pitches to opposing Lakeland Tigers hitters and told teammates it was because he wanted the season to be over. His Mighty Mussels team was fighting Lakeland for a playoff spot in a race that was decided in the final weekend of the regular season. Tonight's recap includes my reaction to that news, updates on the health Emmanuel Rodriguez and Byron Buxton, as well as highlights of Carson McCusker and Kala'i Rosario. View full video

The Minnesota Twins continued a poor stretch of baseball by scoring only two runs the entire weekend series at Kansas City and getting swept by the Royals. Rocco Baldelli called his team's play unprofessional. On a brighter note, top Twins prospect Walker Jenkins is being promoted up to Double-A Wichita. Cedar Rapids ended its season tonight, but Jenkins will have the chance to play another week with the Wind Surge. Prospects featured in tonight's highlights include Emmanuel Rodriguez, Connor Prielipp, Khadim Diaw and Kyle DeBarge. View full video

It’s been a banner year for the Twins in terms of prospect development. While the org ranks among the best in the league in terms of talent, unfortunately, that hasn’t necessarily translated into victories in the minors. With Fort Myers being eliminated from playoff contention today, none of the team’s affiliates will qualify for the postseason in 2024. Image courtesy of Rob Thompson, St. Paul Saints CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 76-65 St. Paul Saints: 65-70 Wichita Wind Surge: 55-75 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 66-62 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 64-59 FCL Twins: 27-31 (season complete) DSL Twins: 30-25 (season complete) SAINTS SENTINEL Iowa 8, St. Paul 4 Box Score Andrew Morris had a nice outing going, but pitch count limitations cut his night short. Saints broadcaster Sean Aronson reported Morris was to be on around a 65 pitch count. He made the most of it. Morris struck out six batters over his 3 2/3 innings while holding the I-Cubs to one run on two hits, a walk and a hit batter. Tonight’s outing brings him up to 123 innings on the season, a healthy jump up from last year’s 84 1/3 frames. Morris now has a 3.04 ERA and 1.06 WHIP in 23 2/3 innings since being promoted to St. Paul. Emmanuel Rodriguez had the day off, so Payton Eeles made his first professional start in center field (and just his 11th overall in the outfield). Eeles had a nice game at the plate, because of course he did. He hit a two-run home run, drew a walk and was hit by a pitch. The Saints also got home runs from Jair Camargo and Chris Williams, but all three were solo shots. It was a tough night for the Saints bullpen, as Ryan Jensen gave up a grand slam and Diego Castillo surrendered a pair of runs. But Steven Okert, in his second outing since being sent to St. Paul, pitched a scoreless inning with a pair of strikeouts. WIND SURGE WISDOM Frisco 2, Wichita 1 Box Score Marco Raya was on his game tonight. While he only tallied two strikeouts, the 22-year-old was efficient, needing only 62 pitches to cover five innings. He nearly turned in a scoreless performance, but ended up surrendering one run. With two down in the fifth inning, Frisco got a hustle double followed by a bloop single. The runner scored on an aggressive send. Center fielder Jorel Ortega’s throw beat the runner home by about 10 feet, the problem was it also sailed about 10 feet over the catcher’s head. Cory Lewis followed Raya and also held Frisco to one run. He gave up a pair of hits and walked one batter while striking out three in his three innings of work. The Wind Surge lineup struggled, combining to collect more double plays hit into (four) than actual base hits (three). Ortega had the only extra-base knock, a triple, and scored the only Wichita run on a Kala’i Rosario single. KERNELS NUGGETS Wisconsin 3, Cedar Rapids 2 Box Score The Kernels lineup couldn’t get much of anything going in this one until the eighth inning. Gabriel Gonzalez led things off with a single (his third hit of the night), which was followed by a Rubel Cespedes double. After that were three consecutive groundouts, which managed to plate those two runners, but wasn’t enough to fully fuel a comeback. Darren Bowen closed his first year in the Twins org with an outing that pretty closely mirrored his season. There were positives, as he struck out five of the 16 batters he faced, but there was also something left to be desired. He needed 75 pitches to complete just three innings, giving up three runs on four hits, a pair of walks and a hit batter. Bowen finishes with a 6.07 ERA and 1.42 WHIP in 72 2/3 innings this year. Walker Jenkins was 0-for-2 but drew two more walks. He has a .373 OBP during his time with Cedar Rapids. Kaelen Culpepper had the day off. The Kernels wrap up their 2024 season on Sunday. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers is ending its season with a massive series against Lakeland, the Tigers affiliate that they’re also battling for a playoff spot in the Florida State League West standings. Their Thursday game was suspended due to weather, meaning a massive doubleheader would take place today. The Mighty Mussels led 2-0 in the bottom of the second inning of the game that was to be continued. They only scored one more run in the 14 innings played today. Lakeland swept, eliminating Fort Myers from playoff contention. Game 1: Lakeland 7, Fort Myers 3 Box Score The 2-0 Fort Myers lead evaporated quickly, as Lakeland tallied a run in the bottom of the second inning (where the suspended game picked back up again today) and then a pair of runs in the third to take the lead. There was no looking back from there for the Flying Tigers. Those runs were scored off Jose Olivares, who got knocked around a bit in his three innings, but did strike out five of the 16 batters he faced. He was followed by a couple of new faces to the org, Logan Whitaker (2024 19th-round pick) and Tyler Stasiowski (2024 undrafted free agent). Whitaker gave up a solo homer, but that was the only hit in his two frames and he struck out three batters. Stasiowski gave up a pair of runs in his inning of work. Byron Chourio was the only Mussels player with a multi-hit game. He was 2-for-3 with a run scored. Brandon Winokur had the only Fort Myers extra-base hit, a double. Game 2: Lakeland 6, Fort Myers 0 Box Score Things didn’t go any better in the night cap. Mussels starter Ross Dunn only recorded five outs and surrendered four runs. The Fort Myers lineup could muster just two hits, a Jose Rodriguez double and a Khadim Diaw single. Christian Becerra, a 2024 12th-round pick, impressed in his second pro appearance. The right-hander out of Cal pitched two scoreless innings while striking out three batters. He did not issue a walk and threw 20 of his 28 pitches for strikes. Perhaps it’s fair that Lakeland should be the team to go onto postseason play. They have the best overall record in the Florida State League West by 13 games on the full season, but missed out on being the first half winner by a half game in the standings. Like the Kernels, the Mussels will also be done for the year on Sunday. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day: Marco Raya, Wichita Hitter of the Day: Payton Eeles, St. Paul PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our recently-updated Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Friday. #1 Walker Jenkins (Cedar Rapids) 0-for-2, 2 BB, K #2 Brooks Lee (Minnesota) 0-for-1 #5 Zebby Matthews (Minnesota) 5 IP, 9 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 89 pitches #7 Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids) 3-for-4, R, E #10 Marco Raya (Wichita) 5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 62 pitches #11 Andrew Morris (St. Paul) 3 2/3 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 66 pitches #12 Brandon Winokur (Fort Myers) 1-for-7, 2B, 3 K, E #13 Cory Lewis (Wichita) 3 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 45 pitches #15 Kala’i Rosario (Wichita) 1-for-4, RBI, K #16 Kyle DeBarge (Fort Myers) 1-for-8, RBI, K, 2 E #17 Tanner Schobel (Wichita) 0-for-3, K TOMORROW’S PROBABLE STARTERS St. Paul vs. Iowa, 6:37 pm CT: Aaron Rozek Wichita at Frisco, 7:05 pm CT: Pierson Ohl Cedar Rapids vs. Wisconsin, 6:35 pm CT: Connor Prielipp Fort Myers at Lakeland, 5:00 pm CT: Adrian Bohorquez View full article

The Minnesota Twins picked up a win over Tampa Bay behind a strong outing from Pablo López and a three-run homer from Edouard Julien. In the minors, Walker Jenkins reached base safely four times and swiped a couple bases for the Kernels while Kaelen Culpepper flashed his impressive arm. Also, Anthony Prato delivered another walk-off hit for the Saints. View full video

The Minnesota Twins gave up eight runs in an inning on the way to another loss to Tampa Bay and Byron Buxton was ejected early in his rehab assignment game with the Saints. Not great. Down on the farm, Gabriel Gonzalez played hero ball in the 10th inning for Cedar Rapids. After making a game-saving diving catch in the top of the inning, Gonzalez also ended the game in the bottom half with a walk-off double. Other minor leaguers featured tonight include Brent Headrick, Rayne Doncon, Gabriel Gonzalez, Charlee Soto, Kyle DeBarge and others. View full video

The Minnesota Twins lost 2-1 to Tampa Bay, but David Festa (former 13th-round pick) put together another impressive start. He struck out seven over five innings of work while giving up a pair of runs. Down in the minors, Ty Langenberg (former 11th-round pick) impressed for Cedar Rapids. He delivered five shutout innings of one-hit ball with seven strikeouts. Also highlighted tonight from the minors were Walker Jenkins, Rubel Cespedes and Brandon Winokur. View full video

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You are correct, I just fat-fingered that one, my mistake. Always seems to happen on the last thing I add to these things. Prielippp is scheduled to start Saturday night. I’m also keeping an eye on him as things wind down. It’s been a lot of fun to see him back out there.

One of the Twins top prospects is back. Well, he should be tomorrow. Emmanuel Rodriguez joined the Mighty Mussels to start a rehab assignment, but their game tonight was rained out. The forecast for Friday afternoon is looking reasonably clear in Fort Myers, so hopefully we’ll see him return to action. Image courtesy of William Parmeter (left), Ed Bailey (right) CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 72-61 St. Paul Saints: 61-66 Wichita Wind Surge: 52-70 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 64-57 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 64-53 FCL Twins: 27-31 (season complete) DSL Twins: 30-25 (season complete) TRANSACTIONS As previously mentioned, Emmanuel Rodriguez was activated off the IL. He played a pair of rehab games in early July, but you have to go all the way back to June 5 for the last time he played in Double-A. Rodriguez was slated to leadoff and play center field tonight, but it can be quite difficult to play baseball in Florida. He’s been out all this time due to a pesky thumb injury suffered on a slide. He also missed time with a hand injury prior to that. It would be wonderful to see him get in some games, have a healthy offseason and position himself to make his Major League debut at some point in 2025. I’m getting ahead of myself, let’s just hope it doesn’t rain in Fort Myers again tomorrow. Rookie-Level All-Stars and Awards Minor League Baseball announced their award winners and all-stars for the rookie levels. Yasser Mercedes was selected as a Florida Complex League all-stars and Eduardo Beltre made the Dominican Summer League all-stars. It feels worth pointing out these are all-star honors and not an actual roster for an all-star game, so only 16 players are selected in each league. Mercedes hit .331/.421/.568 with six home runs and 18 stolen bases in 61 games for the FCL Twins. That .989 OPS ranked second among the qualified hitters in the FCL. The only hitter above him was the MVP of the league (Franklin Arias from the Red Sox). Beltre posted a .326/.453/.518 line in 43 games. His 1.071 OPS ranked third in the DSL. SAINTS SENTINEL Postponed (inclement weather), game to be made up as part of a doubleheader on Friday. WIND SURGE WISDOM Springfield 6, Wichita 3 Box Score It has been a tough year for Tanner Schobel, but his first swing in this game made hitting look easy. The former second-round pick crushed a two-run homer well onto the berm of Wichita’s Riverfront Stadium in the bottom of the first inning. Great way to get things started, but the Wind Surge (well I guess Turbo Tubs) went silent after that. Unfortunately, those were the only two runs the Wind Surge scored until they were down to their final out. On a night in which his high school teammate Lawrence Butler homered three times for the A's, Jaylen Nowlin had an outing that was fairly representative of what he brings to the table. The lefty flashed swing-and-miss stuff, striking out six batters, but also struggled with his control, issuing four walks. Nowlin surrendered three runs over his 4 2/3 innings and threw 86 pitches (49 for strikes, a strike rate of 57%). Wichita held the lead until the fifth inning, and the score was 3-2 entering the ninth, but Springfield managed to tack on three runs in the final frame. Kyler Fedko hit a solo homer in the bottom of the ninth inning, but the damage had been done. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 5, Lake County 2 Box Score Walker Jenkins has been flexing. He snapped a 22-game homerless streak last Friday by hitting his first home run with the Kernels. He went deep again Tuesday. He did it again tonight. After hitting three home runs through his first 62 games of the season, Jenkins has only needed six games to hit his next three homers. The lead didn’t last long. Brooklyn Park product John Klein gave up a leadoff double to 2024 No. 1 overall pick Travis Bazzana and Lake County was able to tally two runs in the bottom of the first inning. That was all the damage Klein would allow over his four innings, however, as he struck out six batters. Jordan Carr fanned another hitter in his scoreless inning of work before Spencer Bengard struck out five more batters over his four clean innings. Altogether, that’s 12 strikeouts against just one walk (on Klein’s ledger) for Cedar Rapids pitching tonight. Bengard earned his first professional save, and has a 1.42 ERA in 19 innings for the Kernels and 1.59 mark in 79 1/3 innings on the season. The Kernels fought their way back from that early deficit, with Kyle Hess hitting a game-tying solo home run in the third inning — his first homer in 47 games with Cedar Rapids. The go-ahead run scored on a missed catch error committed by the Lake County right fielder in the fourth inning. An error also led to the fourth Kernels run. Kaelen Culpepper led off the top of the eighth inning by reaching on an error by Lake County’s first baseman and advancing all the way to third base. Culpepper scrambled home on an RBI groundout by Rubel Cespedes. Nick Lucky plated the fifth Cedar Rapids run with another RBI groundout in the ninth inning. The Kernels lineup managed to score those five runs despite recording only four hits. Agustin Ruiz made the defensive plays of the night. In the sixth inning, Ruiz had to cover a lot of ground to make a great sliding catch in right field foul territory. He also made a play in the bottom of the ninth inning on what looked like it was going to be a routine flyball. Ruiz slipped, fell square on his back, but managed to make the grab anyway. Jenkins, who was the DH , went 1-for-4 with a home run and a strikeout. His OPS is up to .853 in 25 games since being promoted to Cedar Rapids. Culpepper was 0-for-4 but drew a walk, reached on an error and scored a run. He played third base and made a pair of catches on pop-ups in foul territory. There was also an infield single hit in his direction, but it died in the grass on its way over. Basically like a well-placed swinging bunt. It wasn’t even close enough for him to attempt a throw over to first base. MUSSEL MATTERS Postponed (wet grounds), game to be made up as part of a doubleheader on Friday. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day: Spencer Bengard (Cedar Rapids) 4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K Hitter of the Day: Kyle Hess (Cedar Rapids) 2-for-4, HR (1), R, RBI PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our Twins Top 20 prospects. #1 Walker Jenkins (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-4, HR (3), R, RBI, K #7 Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids): 0-for-4, BB, R #17 Tanner Schobel (Wichita): 1-for-4, HR (10), R, 2 RBI, K TOMORROW’S PROBABLE STARTERS St. Paul at Omaha, 5:05 pm CT: Randy Dobnak St. Paul at Omaha, Game 2: Andrew Morris Wichita vs. Springfield, 7:05 pm CT: Marco Raya Cedar Rapids at Lake County, 6:00 pm CT: Jeremy Lee Fort Myers vs. Clearwater, 3:30 pm CT: Jose Olivares Fort Myers vs. Clearwater, Game 2: TBD View full article

Minnesota Twins prospect Brandon Winokur is hitting his stride at a time you'd figure he'd be running outta gas. With the minor league season winding down, Winokur has blossomed, and added to his amazing August by crushing a walk-off homer for the Mighty Mussels. That was made possible in part because the rehabbing Kala'i Rosario hit a pair of home runs himself earlier in the game. Also in the minors, Walker Jenkins hit his second home run since being called up to Cedar Rapids. Other prospects featured tonight include Billy Amick, Logan Whitaker, Carson McCusker and more. View full video

Brooks Lee is working his way back to the Minnesota Twins, and boy does it look like they need him. The Twins lost to the Cardinals 3-2 Sunday in part because second baseman Edouard Julien made a costly error. Tonight's recap covers the action from both Saturday and Sunday. Prospects featured include Connor Prielipp, Kaelen Culpepper, Walker Jenkins, Brandon Winokur, Kyle DeBarge and several others. View full video

It’s mostly a developmental storyline I find very interesting. Raya was the starter I was by far most intrigued by on this short slate of games coming into the night over Dobnak and Klein, who both pitched poorly. So I was following his outing closely.

Top Twins prospect Walker Jenkins has well-regarded power, but his on-base ability has been more on display this season. On Friday night, however, he got into one. The 19-year-old slugged his first home run since being called up to High-A Cedar Rapids. Image courtesy of David Malamut (@MWLArchives on X) CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 71-57 St. Paul Saints: 59-64 Wichita Wind Surge: 50-68 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 61-55 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 61-51 FCL Twins: 27-31 (season complete) DSL Twins: 30-25 (season complete) TRANSACTIONS While Twins fans continue to await word on Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton, we did get some positive news on another duo. Alex Kirilloff started a rehab assignment with the Saints on Friday night (more on that below) and Brooks Lee will be rehabbing in St. Paul starting on Saturday. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 14, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 6 Box Score Alex Kirilloff made an immediate impact in the first game of his rehab assignment. After Diego A. Castillo led off the bottom of the first inning with a single, Kirilloff lined a double into right field. The Saints just kept hitting. Singles from DaShawn Keirsey Jr., Michael Helman, Jair Camargo, Payton Eeles and then a home run from Rylan Bannon made it a seven-run first inning for St. Paul. Wow. Heck of a way to start a party. That was just the beginning, as the Saints lineup managed to tack on seven more runs. By the end of the night, they had 14 runs on 16 hits, one walk and a pair of hit batters. All nine men in the starting lineup recorded at least one hit, with Helman and Camargo leading the way with three hits each. Other multi-hit games came from Castillo, Keirsey and Wynton Bernard. Bannon’s blast was the only home run of the night. How often does a team score 14 runs with only one homer? That seems unusual. It helped that the Saints combined to steal five bases and record eight hits with runners in scoring position. Yep, that’ll do it. Randy Dobnak was the beneficiary of all that offense. He had an ugly outing (six runs — five earned — on eight hits and a walk with zero strikeouts), but at least managed to go five innings while logging 95 pitches. Ryan Jensen and Nick Wittgren each provided a pair of shutout innings out of the bullpen. The first-inning double was Kirilloff’s only hit, as he went 1-for-5 with three strikeouts as the Saints DH. WIND SURGE WISDOM Midland 7, Wichita 4 Box Score Earlier this month, Marco Raya completed six innings for the first time in more than 50 outings, signaling that perhaps the reins were off. His next start was another good one, but he worked through some trouble. While Raya eclipsed 80 pitches in that outing, a good sign he’s building up stamina, he didn’t make it out of the fifth inning. That brings us to tonight. Raya opened with a 1-2-3 first inning, but there was a 10-pitch battle in the middle where the opposing hitter fouled off four two-strike pitches. The second inning got off to a shaky start, as the leadoff man singled before Raya walked the next batter. Luckily, Tanner Schobel, Jake Rucker and Aaron Sabato were able to convert a groundball into a double play. Raya struck out the next batter, ending the threat. Raya then cruised through the third inning, inducing a pair of flyouts before tacking on his third strikeout. Through three clean innings, Raya was at 42 pitches and looking poised to potentially get deep into this ballgame (well, relatively speaking). The fourth inning opened with a single, then an error. While ranging to his left, Rucker (the second baseman) appeared to be attempting to field, spin and fire to second base to start a double play. The only problem was he didn’t come up with the ball. Everybody safe. Raya responded by getting the next batter to pop out, but he couldn’t fully escape the jam. He surrendered a run-scoring single, but retired the next two batters to strand a pair of runners on base. That cost 20 more ticks on the pitch count. Not ideal, but it seemed there was at least a slim possibility six frames could still be on the table. Raya went back out for the fifth inning, but Rucker did not. He was replaced at second base by Jorel Ortega, no further info was available on that move at the time of this writing. Anyway, Raya failed to retire a batter in the fifth. Infield single, walk, bunt single. His night was over after completing four innings while throwing 76 pitches. Jaylen Nowlin was handed the unenviable task of taking over with the bases loaded and nobody out. Unfortunately, he gave up a two-run double on the very first pitch he threw. Midland continued to build their lead, and took a 7-2 advantage into the top of the ninth inning. The pesky Wind Surge tacked on a pair of runs and managed to bring the go-ahead run up to the plate with two outs, but Carson McCusker popped out with the bases loaded to end it. Earlier in the game, McCusker hit his 15th home run of the season, eclipsing his 2023 total. The former indy ball signing has been on a tear the past two months. KERNELS NUGGETS Dayton 11, Cedar Rapids 4 Box Score After hitting three home runs in 115 plate appearances last year, Walker Jenkins entered tonight with the same number of homers in 158 more PAs in 2024. The lack of power hitting hasn’t been much of a concern, since he’s getting on base (.392 OBP entering tonight) and making contact (11.7 K%), but it still would be great to see him slug some more. Well, Jenkins crushed one way out tonight for his first home run since being called up to High-A. It was great that Jenkins gave us some flashes to get excited about, because this was a rough night for the Kernels. Starting pitcher John Klein surrendered three home runs in 1 2/3 innings, giving up six total runs. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers was off tonight, they’ll play a doubleheader on Saturday. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day: Uhhh … Nick Wittgren, St. Paul? (2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K) Hitter of the Day: Walker Jenkins, Cedar Rapids PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our recently-updated Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Friday. #1 Walker Jenkins (Cedar Rapids): 3-for-5, HR (1), 2 R, RBI, K #6 David Festa (Minnesota): 3 2/3 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 5 K, 75 pitches #7 Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-4, R, RBI, 2 K #9 Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids): 2-for-5, R, K #10 Marco Raya (Wichita): 4 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 3 K, 76 pitches #17 Tanner Schobel (Wichita): 0-for-3, 2 BB, 2 K TOMORROW’S PROBABLE STARTERS St. Paul vs. Scranton/WB, 6:37 pm CT: Andrew Morris Wichita at Midland, 7 pm CT: Christian MacLeod Cedar Rapids at Dayton, 6:05 pm CT: Connor Prielipp Fort Myers at Tampa, 3:00 pm CT: Adrian Bohorquez Fort Myers at Tampa, Game 2: Paulshawn Pasqualotto View full article