Tom Froemming

Twins prospect Brandon Winokur, still just 19 years old, may have hit a baseball clear out of Hammond Stadium tonight. It was an epic blast at 109.3 mph on the exit velocity. He followed it up with another homer that registered a 107.8 mph exit velo. And another hit 105.4 mph. Image courtesy of William Parmeter (photo of Brandon Winokur) CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 69-53 St. Paul Saints: 56-61 Wichita Wind Surge: 49-63 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 59-51 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 60-47 FCL Twins: 27-31 (season complete) DSL Twins: 28-25 TRANSACTIONS The lone transaction on Friday was that RHP Scott Blewett, who was outrighted to St. Paul after clearing waivers, elected to become a free agent. That's not to say he couldn't re-sign with the Twins, but he's going to see what else is out there. SAINTS SENTINEL Indianapolis 3, St. Paul 2 Box Score Caleb Boushley had an outstanding start, surrendering one run on six hits over six innings while striking out eight batters and not issuing a walk. This was great to see from a guy who factors into the rotation depth for the big club. Things have been rough for the 30-year-old Wisconsin native of late. Boushley, who made an appearance with the Twins in late-May, had a 9.11 ERA over his previous six starts entering tonight’s outing. Shortstop Rylan Bannon made the web gem of the evening, a tremendous leaping catch that saved a pair of runs. Bannon, who’s had a few cups of coffee in the bigs, is relatively new to the org. The 28-year-old was acquired from the Mets on July 15 for cash considerations. He’s struggled at the plate so far with the Saints, posting a .489 OPS in 21 games, but had an .866 OPS in 79 games with the Mets’ Triple-A affiliate prior to the trade. The Saints threatened in the ninth inning tonight, as Payton Eeles hit a one-out single that was followed by a DaShawn Keirsey Jr. walk to push the tying run into scoring position. Diego A. Castillo battled, but was retired on a bang-bang play to end an eight-pitch at-bat. With two outs and first base open, Indianapolis opted to challenge Yunior Severino instead of putting him on. It worked, unfortunately, as Severino struck out looking on the first four-seam fastball he saw of the at-bat to end the game. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 3, Arkansas 2 (11 innings) Box Score Marco Raya was given an opportunity to wiggle out of a tough jam in the fourth inning tonight and shined. After giving up a leadoff double, Raya hit the next batter and then walked the bases loaded with no outs. With his back against the wall, Raya responded. He struck out the next two batters and then recorded the final out on a little swinging bunt fielded by catcher Noah Cardenas. Abracadabra. While that escape was impressive, it also appeared it may have been taxing. Raya walked the first two batters he faced in the fifth inning and was done for the night. He delivered 4 1/3 shutout innings with five strikeouts. Travis Adams, usually a starter, came out of the bullpen mid-inning and provided 3 2/3 of one-run ball while striking out six batters. Then it was up to Kyle Bischoff to protect a one-run lead. Things got off to a shaky start in the ninth inning, as Arkansas got a single and a stolen base to put the tying run at second with no outs. Bischoff struck out the next two batters, then the lineup turned over and top-100 prospect Harry Ford came up to hit. He hit a ground ball up the middle that appeared to kick off the second base bag and over Jake Rucker’s glove, dribbling into center field and the game was tied. Bischoff held the Travelers scoreless in the 10th and John Stankeiwicz held them off the board in the 11th. The Wind Surge lineup was finally able to take advantage of the extra opportunities in the bottom of the 11th. Carson McCusker, who hit his 11th home run of the season earlier in the game, grounded out to lead off the inning, allowing the bonus runner to advance to third base. Jake Rucker was intentionally walked, Aaron Sabato drew a walk to load the bases, then Dalton Shuffield dropped a single in front of the center fielder to walk it off for Wichita. KERNELS NUGGETS South Bend 15, Cedar Rapids 2 Box Score Sometimes it’s just not your night. Ty Langenberg, 2023 11th-round-pick out of Iowa, carried some serious momentum into tonight’s start. Over his previous five outings, the right-hander posted a 1.63 ERA and 1.16 WHIP in 27 2/3 innings pitched. Langenberg only managed to record four outs tonight, surrendering six runs on eight hits in the process. Things didn’t get much better after he exited, as South Bend had 13 runs by the end of the third inning. Aussie first baseman Rixon Wingrove hit his second home run since being called up from Fort Myers. Walker Jenkins was the only Kernels hitter to record multiple base knocks, going 2-for-4 with a double. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers 12, Lakeland 2 Box Score Brandon Winokur can do some special things on a baseball diamond. Listed at 6-foot-6, Winokur manages to hold his own in the field both at shortstop and center field. At the plate, well, the video speaks for itself. Any three-homer game is special, but those were some especially well-hit baseballs. Winokur’s swing isn’t even especially violent, he’s just a big, strong young man. This gives Winokur 12 home runs on the season, becoming just the 12th hitter to reach double-digit homers in the Florida State League this year. He also has 18 stolen bases. Kaelen Culpepper also had a three-hit night, though all of his were singles. The Twins 2024 first-round pick drove in three of the Mighty Mussels’ dozen runs. Fellow 2024 draftee Caden Kendle also had a multi-hit game, going 2-for-3 with a double and a walk. DOMINICAN DAILIES DSL Twins 4, DSL Mets Blue 2 Box Score Yandro Hernandez, a 19-year-old from Cuba, delivered a two-run double in the fourth inning to put the Twins up 4-1. The impact pitching performance came from 17-year-old Dominican righty Yoel Roque, who gave up one run over three innings while striking out six. Eduardo Beltre was 1-for-4 with a double and a pair of stolen bases, giving him nine steals on the season. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day: Caleb Boushley, St. Paul Hitter of the Day: Brandon Winokur, Fort Myers PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our recently-updated Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Wednesday. #1 Walker Jenkins (Cedar Rapids) 2-for-4, 2B, R #7 Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids) 0-for-3, BB #9 Kaelen Culpepper (Fort Myers) 3-for-5, 3 RBI #10 Marco Raya (Wichita) 4 1/3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 5 K #12 Brandon Winokur (Fort Myers) 3-for-5, 3 HRs, 3 R, 4 RBI #16 Kyle DeBarge (Fort Myers) 1-for-5, SB, R, 2 RBI #17 Tanner Schobel (Wichita) 0-for-5 TOMORROW’S PROBABLE STARTERS St. Paul at Indianapolis, 6:05 pm CT: Randy Dobnak Wichita vs. Arkansas, 6:05 pm CT: Jaylen Nowlin Cedar Rapids vs. South Bend, 6:35 pm CT: Connor Prielipp Fort Myers vs. Lakeland, 5:05 pm CT: Adrian Bohorquez View full article

I added that after seeing the initial feedback. I also relayed the request to include names going forward to the editing staff.

The Minnesota Twins took their first of four games at Texas, winning 3-2 behind another Bailey Ober quality start. Willi Castro provided a home run and Kyle Farmer added, well, we're gonna call it an inside the park home run. Tonight's minor league highlights include Walker Jenkins, Kaelen Culpepper and Brandon Winokur. View full video

Charlee Soto, still only 18-years-old, continues to impress for Fort Myers. Another great outing of five innings of shutout ball extends a hot streak he's been on. Highlights from that start are included in tonight's System Recap, as well as video of his Mighty Mussels teammates Brandon Winokur, Billy Amick, Derek Bender and Caden Kendle. We'll also take a look at Cory Lewis, who has also been on a roll of late. View full video

Yeah, Willi is great to have as insurance at both SS and CF, but things get tricky when both of the starters there are injured. And Lee is injured. Remember when people complained there were too many shortstops? :) I agree, I would have liked to see Keirsey get a look. Julien's recent performance made him worthy of a callup, but he doesn't fit into the current composition of the roster as well. Maybe getting Keirsey onto the 40-man was too tricky, I dunno. Last I heard. via Aaron Gleeman on the podcast, was it's a hand injury (thumb, I think) that doesn't require surgery. So something pesky enough to keep him out this long while not being so serious there's a more concrete timeline like when a guy goes under the knife. I'm starting to feel bad for DaShawn. He's had a nice year. Probably would have got a look by now in most other orgs. Unfortunately, there are just so many other left-handed hitting outfielders. I'm also happy with how Winokur has come along. He's looked more refined than I was imagining. His K% was 31.7 in April and has been a more manageable 26.2 since, including a 25.4 rate the past 90 days. Still high, as you said, but it's great to see that slowly trending the right direction. It's easy to imagine him really breaking out next year in Cedar Rapids.

The Minnesota Twins system is flying high, ranking as a top-four farm system in all of baseball by MLB Pipeline, Baseball America and ESPN. But there’s a teenage phenom playing for the DSL Twins those publications are currently looking past who could raise the bar even higher. Image courtesy of Ed Bailey, Wichita Wind Surge (photo of C.J. Culpepper) CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 68-53 St. Paul Saints: 56-60 Wichita Wind Surge: 48-63 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 59-50 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 59-47 FCL Twins: 27-31 (season complete) DSL Twins: 27-25 TRANSACTIONS Edouard Julien and Ronny Henriquez were recalled from St. Paul while Louie Varland was optioned to the Saints and Byron Buxton was placed on the 10-day IL with right hip inflammation. Scott Blewett cleared waivers and was sent outright to the Saints. SAINTS SENTINEL Indianapolis 6, St. Paul 4 Box Score With Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton both on the injured list, perhaps the most noteworthy thing in regard to the Triple-A club at the moment might be who’s playing shortstop and centerfield. Tonight, that was Michael Helman (2-for-5 with a double) and DaShawn Keirsey Jr. (1-for-3 with a double, a walk, a hit by pitch and a run scored). While it doesn’t appear that either of those guys will get a look in the big leagues at the moment, you never know. It’s also worth keeping a close eye on the Triple-A club’s bullpen. Zack Weiss had a strong outing, delivering 2 1/3 shutout innings, and the recently-signed Giovanny Gallegos surrendered a run on two hits, a walk and a wild pitch while sitting 92.2 mph with his fastball. In terms of the game itself, the Saints fell behind 4-2 in the third inning and never got back into it. It was an especially tough night for the lineup, who combined to strike out 16 times. Yuck. WIND SURGE WISDOM Arkansas 6, Wichita 5 Box Score Debuts are difficult. Not everybody passes with flying colors and makes them look as easy as Zebby Matthews (who moved up to the majors) and Andrew Morris (who was promoted to Triple-A) did recently. C.J. Culpepper made his Double-A debut tonight for the Wind Surge. He struck out the side in order in the first inning and it was pretty smooth sailing in the second. But in the third inning, Culpepper surrendered hits to the first three batters he faced. He didn’t survive that frame. If nothing else, Culpepper looked awesome in the Wichita Tumble Vacas jerseys. Totally awesome, like Jeff Spicoli (spitting image if you ask me, but this may just be my hair envy talking more than anything). Alright, so there were other positives. Culpepper struck out four of the 12 batters he faced and threw 65.2% of his pitches for strikes. He also didn’t walk anybody. Again, debuts are difficult. This one certainly could have gone better, but it’s not as if there’s nothing to build upon. Offensively, the hot-hitting Tanner Schobel kept rolling, going 2-for-3 with a triple and a walk. Jake Rucker also supplied a two-run home run, his seventh homer of the year. KERNELS NUGGETS South Bend 6, Cedar Rapids 4 Box Score Again, debuts are difficult. Something in Tanner Hall clicked recently, and he started dominating for Fort Myers. He struck out 39 batters over a stretch of 26 2/3 innings for the Mighty Mussels (13.2 K/9), and earned a promotion up to Cedar Rapids. Moving up to a new level, in a new city, with new teammates and new coaches can be challenging. There are extra things to attend to both outside and inside the lines. It’s difficult … wait, is there an echo in here? Hall showed some positive signs in his Kernels debut, striking out five batters over 4 2/3 IP, but also gave up three runs on five hits and a pair of walks. With Hall, much like Culpepper, at least their debut is simply out of the way. They’re here, they’ve been christened. Now it’s time to move forward. Walker Jenkins, who DHed tonight, was 2-for-4 with a walk and scored twice. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers 4, Lakeland 1 Box Score The 2024 draft class has provided a nice boost to this Mighty Mussels club that was already having a good season. Tonight, Fort Myers took the advantage in the third inning with a Kyle DeBarge (2024 first-round pick) run-scoring single and a Billy Amick (2024 second-round pick) two-run double. That was all the pitching staff needed, as 21-year-old right-hander Jose Olivares threw four no-hit innings followed by three shutout innings from Samuel Perez. Both of those Venezuelan hurlers have ERAs comfortably below 3.00 on the season for the Might Mussels (Olivares at 2.57 and Perez with a 2.77 mark). Brandon Winokur, who played shortstop tonight (Kaelen Culpepper was at third base), stole his 17th and 18th bases of the season. Byron Chourio was 2-for-3 with a walk and scored two of the Mussels’ four runs. DOMINICAN DAILIES DSL Rockies 8, DSL Twins 3 Box Score There may be plenty of supporting cast, but there’s no doubt that Eduardo Beltre is the leading man for this year’s DSL Twins. He continued to impress in his starring role today, going 3-for-4 with an RBI and his seventh stolen base of the year. Beltre, who is still only 17-years-old, is hitting .328/.461/.661 (1.072 OPS) in 40 games with the DSL Twins. This has been a banner year for the system, otherwise a performance like Beltre’s would likely garner much more attention. It can be tricky to properly evaluate a performance in such a low level, but Beltre was a well-regarded international prospect out of the Dominican Republic and received a $1.5 million signing bonus, so this impressive showing is more evidence the Twins may have identified a stud. Personally, I bumped Beltre up to my No. 16 prospect in the Twins system in my August rankings, but I consider myself a bit more risk-averse with short-season guys. I think it could be justified to put him even higher. As I teased in the intro, this could be a player who pushes the system even further up the ranks as evaluators take notice of his impressive performance. Beltre is currently ranked as the No. 26 prospect by MLB Pipeline and No. 28 by Baseball America. Both resources love the Twins system as is, but I won’t be surprised if they further appreciate this org as they become more familiar with guys like Beltre this offseason. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day: Jose Olivares, Fort Myers 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 Wednesday. #1 Walker Jenkins (Cedar Rapids) 2-for-4, 2B, BB, 2 R #7 Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids) 0-for-4, BB #9 Kaelen Culpepper (Fort Myers) 0-for-3, BB, R #12 Brandon Winokur (Fort Myers) 1-for-4, R, RBI, 2 SB (18) #16 Kyle DeBarge (Fort Myers) 1-for-3, BB, RBI #17 Tanner Schobel (Wichita) 2-for-3, 3B, BB, R, RBI #19 C.J. Culpepper (Wichita) 2.2 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 0 BB, 4 K, 0 HR (65.2% strikes) TOMORROW’S PROBABLE STARTERS St. Paul at Indianapolis, 6:05 pm CT: Caleb Boushley Wichita vs. Arkansas, 7:05 pm CT: Marco Raya Cedar Rapids vs. South Bend, 6:35 pm CT: Ty Langenberg Fort Myers vs. Lakeland, 6:05 pm CT: TBD DSL Twins vs. DSL Mets Blue, 10 am CT: TBD View full article

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The Twins lost to Cleveland 5-3 Sunday, putting a disappointing finish to the four-game series that ends with a split. Byron Buxton continued his hot second half by blasting a pair of home runs. The Twins managed to load the bases with no outs in the bottom of the ninth inning but could not score. Tough. From the minors, we've got highlights of Walker Jenkins, Edouard Julien, Anthony Prato, Chris Williams, Christian MacLeod and Matt Bowman to watch. All that plus much more info on Sunday's action. View full video

The Twins lost 2-1 to the Guardians Saturday, but it wasn't due to a lack of effort from Simeon Woods Richardson, who went a career-high seven innings. In the minors, first-round pick Kaelen Culpepper hit his first pro homer for the Mighty Mussels. Highlights of that swing are included in tonight's recap plus some video of Tanner Schobel and Connor Prielipp. There's also a look at some of Adrian Bohorquez's under the hood metrics. View full video

The Twins swept the Guardians today and trail in the AL Central by just a game and a half. A number of players stepped up to earn a pair of hard-fought victories, but Matt Wallner's go-ahead three-run homer in the nightcap was definitely the signature moment. Along with highlights and info from those games, tonight's recap also includes Walker Jenkins highlights and an update on 2024 first-round pick Kealen Culpepper. View full video

Zebby Matthews, Cory Lewis and Tanner Hall showed out on Thursday, as the Twins pitching pipeline continues to flex. Matthews' development in particular has helped this system blossom into a top-5 farm system, as determined by both ESPN and Baseball America. Also included in tonight's highlights are Giovanny Gallegos making his organization debut and Jair Camargo delivering a walk-off single. View full video

Joe Ryan got hurt and the Minnesota Twins lost a series to the Cubs, but the minor leagues provided some more positivity Wednesday. Andrew Morris (who was named Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Month for July) and Charlee Soto (who was the team's official pick for Minor League Pitcher of the Month for July), both continued to pitch well, delivering scoreless outings. There are also some Saints highlights and much more in tonight's System Recap. View full video

It's the first Monday of the month, that means it's time to update my Minnesota Twins top-50 prospects list. Let me know what you think. The big update this month was adding Kaelen Culpepper and all the other new 2024 draftees. In addition to that, Eduardo Beltre got a big jump and both Christian MacLeod and Carson McCusker entered the list. View full video

Add another name to the list of intriguing Twins pitching prospects: Adrian Bohorquez. The 19-year-old made his debut for Fort Myers tonight and struck out four batters over three scoreless innings. Some highlights of his outing are included, plus a breakdown of all the action from across the system tonight. View full video