Tom Froemming

TRANSACTIONS RHP Darren McCaughan sent outright to Triple-A St. Paul. He was promoted to the MLB roster Monday and DFA’d Tuesday. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 6, Iowa 5 Box Score The new guys were having some fun for the Saints. Trade acquisition James Outman hit his first home run for the Saints, his 21st overall in Triple-A this season. While his teammates surely loved seeing his majestic blast, Outman’s home run trot earned him a call from the bullpen. For several seasons now, the tradition in St. Paul is that a hitter acknowledges the Saints bullpen as he rounds second base. If not, they can expect a call from the bullpen on the dugout phone. Well, on the broadcast, Saints excellent play-by-play man Sean Aronson confirmed Outman got a call. I’m sure Outman got a good laugh out of that introduction to Saints team culture. Something tells me he won’t have to wait long before he has another chance to acknowledge the bullpen. Kendry Rojas, another new trade acquisition, made his first start with the Saints, his second career Triple-A start and sixth overall start above Class A. The 22-year-old lefty mostly pitched well, but he couldn’t work around a fielding error and surrendered five unearned runs. With one out and a man on first, Rojas induced a tailor made double play ball. Instead of that ending the inning, Saints shortstop Will Holland booted it. To make matters worse, left fielder Kyler Fedko’s throw trying to get the runner advancing from first to third was wild and ended up going out of play. It’s not often you see two errors committed on the same play. Rojas responded by striking out top Cubs prospect Moisés Ballesteros for the second out. Instead of what would have been an impressive escape, Rojas walked the next batter, gave up a wall-banging RBI double and then a two-run home run. Rojas went five innings, gave up five hits and walked two batters. Of his 75 pitches, 47 were strikes (62.7%). He topped out at 96.3 mph but six of his 10 whiffs came on his changeup, which averaged 86.9 mph. Holland eventually made up for his error by hitting a game-tying two-run homer in the bottom of the fourth inning. DaShawn Keirsey Jr. put the Saints up with a two-out RBI triple in the fifth inning that scored Jonah Bride. It’s generally been a tough year for the Saints bullpen, but they were nails tonight. The trio of Kyle Bischoff (one inning), John Stankiewicz (two innings) and Noah Davis (one inning) protected a one-run lead over the final four innings to lock down the victory. Down 5-0 at one point, the Saints came back to win 6-5 and helped Kendry Rojas earn his first career win in Triple A. WIND SURGE WISDOM Northwest Arkansas 6, Wichita 4 Box Score Fun fact: Among the 811 minor league pitchers with at least 50 innings pitched so far this season entering tonight, Connor Prielipp was tied for the highest batting average on balls in play at .401. To put that into some context, the MLB average BABIP this season is .289. Tonight continued what’s been a somewhat confounding season for Prielipp. On the positive side, he struck out six of the 19 batters he faced (31.6 K%) and threw a season-high 72 pitches. But he only went 3 2/3 innings, gave up five hits (one of them a home run), walked two and hit a batter. I suppose the biggest thing is it’s August and Connor Prielipp is still pitching. The Wichita lineup produced some impressive individual performances, but they only yielded four runs. Jake Rucker, the No. 9 hitter, went 3-for-4 with a double and a home run (a solo shot). Kaelen Culpepper also had a three-hit night and stole his 23rd base of the season. Nate Baez was 2-for-4 with a home run and Kalai’ Rosario slugged his 16th homer. KERNELS NUGGETS West Michigan 3, Cedar Rapids 2 Box Score Ty Langenberg pitched great but a couple of his throws that didn’t go to home plate cost the Kernels in this game. With runners at the corners in the fifth inning, Langenberg attempted a pickoff throw to first that got by first baseman, allowing a run to score. With the score knotted at 2-2 in the seventh inning, Langenberg threw to second base in more of an attempt to keep the runner honest than to actually get a pickoff, but it deflected off the runner’s back and into center field. In what ended up a 3-2 game, those two throwing errors loomed large, which was a shame because Langenberg pitched well. The Iowa product had his longest outing of the season, throwing 6 1/3 innings. He surrendered five hits and two walks while striking out five. He gave up three runs, though only one was earned. Langenberg entered July with a 7.98 ERA but has brought that down to 4.81 since. The Kernels lineup mustered five hits, all of them singles. Eduardo Tait, who was catching Langenberg, was the only Cedar Rapids batter with multiple hits, going 2-for-4. Kyle DeBarge stole his 57th base of the season. MUSSEL MATTERS Clearwater 7, Fort Myers 6 Box Score Eduardo Beltre blasted his first Low-A home run in this game. It’s been a trying year for the 18-year-old Dominican outfielder, but that he has his first homer in full-season ball before his 19th birthday is a nice accomplishment to hold onto. He hit three balls in excess of 100 mph exit velocities tonight. The Mussels built a 5-3 lead in the bottom of the fifth inning, but the bullpen immediately gave it away. The relief corps wasn’t the only unit that struggled, as the Fort Myers bats were 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base. That’s all especially tough to swallow in a one-run loss. Marek Houston, 2025 first-round pick, was 1-for-4 with a walk and a strikeout. In his first six games of pro ball, the Wake Forest product has hit .370/.414/.407 (.821 OPS). Michael Ross struck out five batters over five innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and a walk in the process. DOMINICAN DAILIES DSL Twins 7, DSL Rockies 4 Box Score A four-run top of the seventh inning made the difference for the DSL Twins, but starting pitcher Eliezer Lucena twirled a gem prior to the bats getting going. The 17-year-old right-hander out of Venezuela went five innings for the second-straight start and held the DSL Rockies to one run on six hits and three walks. He struck out three batters. Lucena has surrendered just one earned run over his last four starts (13 2/3 IP). The Twins bats weren’t able to take advantage of Lucena’s strong start, and they trailed 2-1 entering the top of the seventh inning. Darwin Almanzar drew a leadoff walk, but the next two Twins hitters were retired. Teilon Serrano then reached on an error that would prove to be incredibly costly for the Rockies. Santiago Leon hit a two-run triple, then Haritzon Castillo blasted a two-run homer and suddenly the Twins were up 5-2. Serrano later added a two-run homer in the top of the eighth inning to put an exclamation mark on the late-inning scoring barrage. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day: Ty Langenberg, Cedar Rapids (6.1 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K) Hitter of the Day: Jake Rucker, Wichita (3-for-4, HR, 2B, R, RBI, K) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for more. 1. Walker Jenkins (Wichita): 0-for-4, BB 3. Kaelen Culpepper (Wichita): 3-for-4, BB, SB (8), K 5. Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids): 2-for-4, R, K 6. Connor Prielipp (Wichita): 3 2/3 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 72 pitches (62.5% strikes) 9. Kendry Rojas (St. Paul): 5 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 75 pitches (62.7% strikes) 13. Marek Houston (Fort Myers): 1-for-4, BB, K 14. Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-2, BB, HBP, R 17. Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids): 0-for-3, BB, SB (57), 2 K 20. Hendry Mendez (Wichita): 0-for-4, 2 K TOMORROW’S PROBABLE STARTERS St. Paul vs. Iowa, 7:07 pm CT: Marco Raya Wichita vs. Northwest Arkansas, 7:05 pm CT: Alejandro Hidalgo Cedar Rapids at West Michigan, 5:35 pm CT: Jose Olivares Fort Myers vs. Clearwater, 6:05 pm CT: Michael Carpenter DSL Twins vs. DSL Mariners, 10 am CT: TBD CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 54-60 St. Paul Saints: 49-60 Wichita Wind Surge: 56-49 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 59-45 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 45-58 FCL Twins: 39-20 (finished 2nd in FCL playoffs) DSL Twins: 19-28 View full article

If fine with someone critiquing my analysis, but you're not gonna add any of your own? Not even gonna say which one of those you thought was accurate? Not gonna provide an opinion on the current trades? Nuthin'? I might not always be right, but at least I have the guts to put an opinion out there.

The Minnesota Twins minor league system looks drastically different than even just one month ago. In addition to the 2025 MLB Draft, the trade deadline also took place. In all, 16 new names entered my top-50 Twins prospect list -- names like Eduardo Tait, Marek Houston, Kendry Rojas, Mick Able, Riley Quick, Quentin Young and Alan Roden. Along with the list, there are some highlights included of these new trade acquisitions. It's a challenge to try to get to know this many players in this amount of time, so let me know what you think. View full video

I think I still have one of these buttons lying around somewhere. The current state of the org definitely brings backs some memories of around that era.

Probably because he has a 31.6 K% and 6.8 BB% in his brief time in Triple-A with not enough production to offset that concern. It's fun that he's played his way back onto the radar, but he's right where he belongs at the moment.

FRIDAY’S RESULTS Toledo 3, St. Paul 2 Amarillo 3, Wichita 1 Lansing 10, Cedar Rapids 7 Fort Myers 4, Dunedin 0 DSL Rockies 11, DSL Twins 9 TRANSACTIONS There were so many transactions Friday that it needed to be its own article. More than 40 players across the system were involved in a transaction, one way or another. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day: Michael Carpenter, Fort Myers (4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K) Carpenter gave up a double to the second batter he faced tonight, but that was it. The second inning started out with new acquisition Enrique Jimenez (who came over from Detroit in the Chris Paddack trade) committing an error at first base. He made up for it immediately, though, as he started a 3-6-3 double play, combining with 2025 first-round pick Marek Houston on the twin killing. Houston played shortstop and hit leadoff, going 1-for-4 with a single, a run and an RBI. He also started an inning-ending double play in the fifth. Carpenter put together 1-2-3 innings in the third and fourth frames, ending his night on a high note with back-to-back strikeouts. The lefty was slider-heavy tonight, featuring that offering on 22 of his 52 pitches. He also threw 19 sinkers, eight changeups and three four-seamers, topping out at 94.1 mph. The Twins nabbed Carpenter in the 11th round of last year’s draft but paid him the sixth-biggest bonus of the class to lure him away from transferring to East Carolina after an insanely successful junior college career. Michael Ross followed Carpenter and was also excellent over the final five innings, finishing out the combined shutout. Ross, the Twins 18th-rounder from last year’s class, only yielded four hits and walked one batter while striking out four. He has a 2.93 ERA and 1.16 WHIP in 61 1/3 innings this season. He topped out at 94.5 mph tonight. Hitter of the Day: Khadim Diaw, Fort Myers (1-for-2, HR, BB, R, 3 RBI) The big blow in support of all that great Mussels pitching was a Khadim Diaw three-run homer in the first game of his rehab assignment. He played catcher for seven innings and, in addition to the home run, also drew a walk. Diaw suffered a fractured thumb and missed all of June and July. Prior to going down with the injury, Diaw was looking like a breakout prospect of 2025, hitting .302/.455/.431 (.886 OPS) in 38 games with Cedar Rapids. After hitting one home run in his first 51 professional games, Diaw now has four homers in his last 12 games played. That Diaw was right back behind the plate in his first rehab game was a pleasant surprise. I would have guessed they would have opted to ease him in by either slotting him in at DH or outfield. Hopefully he’ll be back with High-A Cedar Rapids before too long. STARTING PITCHING LINES John Stankiewicz (St. Paul): 1 1/3 IP, 0 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 2 K, 38 pitches (47.4% strikes) Connor Prielipp (Wichita): 2 2/3 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 65 pitches (60.0% strikes) Matt Gabbert (Cedar Rapids): 2 IP, 7 H, 7 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 59 pitches (57.6% strikes) Michael Carpenter (Fort Myers): 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 52 pitches (67.3% strikes) Santiago Castellanos (DSL): 2 1/3 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 2 K HOME RUNS Wichita: Kala’i Rosario (14) Fort Myers: Khadim Diaw (1st with FTM, 4th overall) DSL: Joyner Perez (2), Dencer Diaz (1) MULTI-HIT GAMES St. Paul: Aaron Sabato (2-for-4) Wichita: Rubel Cespedes (2-for-4) Cedar Rapids: Kyle DeBarge (2-for-4, BB) DSL: Dencer Diaz (2-for-4, HR), Darwin Almanzar (2-for-4, 2B), Jose Barrios (2-for-4). ADDITIONAL NOTES Cory Lewis was the follower for St. Paul today. Though he only surrendered one run over 3 2/3 innings and struck out five batters, he also issued six walks. He’s up to 49 walks in 59 1/3 innings this year (7.4 BB/9). Gabriel Gonzalez and Kyler Fedko each got a hit in their respective Triple-A debuts with the Saints tonight. Lefty reliever Gabriel Yanez, who has spent the majority of this season in High-A, delivered three innings of shutout ball with five strikeouts and no walks for the Saints. In addition to Marek Houston, 2025 draftees Ryan Sprock, Shai Robinson and JP Smith II also made their professional debuts with the Mighty Mussels. Sprock, taken in the eighth round, went 1-for-3 with a walk. PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for more. 1. Walker Jenkins (Wichita): 0-for-4 2. Luke Keaschall (rehabbing with St. Paul): 1-for-2, BB, HBP, 2 SB (11) 3. Kaelen Culpepper (Wichita): 0-for-4 5. Connor Prielipp (Wichita): 2 2/3 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K 8. Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul): 1-for-4, K 10. Marek Houston (Fort Myers): 1-for-4, R, RBI, 2 K in professional debut 11. Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-5, 2 RBI, 2 K 14. Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids): 2-for-4, BB, 2 R 16. Billy Amick (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-2, 2 BB, HBP, 2 R, RBI 17. Khadim Diaw (rehabbing with Fort Myers): 1-for-2, HR, BB, R, 3 RBI 19. Eduardo Beltre (Fort Myers): 0-for-3, BB CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 51-58 St. Paul Saints: 46-58 Wichita Wind Surge: 52-48 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 58-41 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 44-54 FCL Twins: 39-20 (season over) DSL Twins: 16-27 TOMORROW’S PROBABLE STARTERS St. Paul at Toledo, 6:05 pm CT: Trent Baker Wichita at Amarillo, 7:05 pm CT: Alejandro Hidalgo Cedar Rapids at Lansing, 6:05 pm CT: Jose Olivares Fort Myers vs. Dunedin, 5:05 pm CT: Dasan Hill DSL Twins at DSL Giants Black, 9 am CT: TBD View full article

Image courtesy of William Parmeter If there’s a silver lining to the Twins deadline fire sale, it’s that space opened up for dozens of players across the organization to be promoted. These promotions result in better pay, better lifestyle off the field and opportunities to impress on the field for these players. Joining the Twins in Cleveland were new trade acquisition Alan Roden, a corner outfielder formerly with the Blue Jays, along with seven others who were called up from Triple-A St. Paul: Right-handed pitchers Travis Adams, Pierson Ohl, Erasmo Ramirez and José Ureña along with infielders Ryan Fitzgerald and Edouard Julien plus outfielder/second baseman Austin Martin. It may not be the most head-turning crop of names, but it’s possible some of these guys make the most out of another opportunity in the big leagues. All that movement created space across the entire minor league system. A quartet of new trade acquisitions were assigned to St. Paul, but it seems likely we’ll see most of them on the Twins before long. That group includes right-handed pitchers Taj Bradley and Mick Abel, outfielder James Outman and left-handed pitcher Kendry Rojas, who is the only one of those four yet to make his Major League debut. In fact, Rojas only has five total appearances above High-A to his credit, so his assignment to St. Paul can be considered aggressive. There were also players within the org promoted to Triple-A: Left-handed pitchers Christian MacLeod and Gabriel Yanez along with outfielders Gabriel Gonzalez and Kyler Fedko. Gonzalez and Fedko are a couple of the feel-good stories of the system this year, as both have bounced back from forgettable 2024 seasons to be in the running for top Twins minor league hitter honors. Down in Wichita, the new names to the org joining the Double-A roster include right-handed pitchers Ryan Gallagher and Sam Armstrong, as well as outfielder Hendry Mendez. Also, former indy ball signing Eston Stull, a right-handed pitcher, was promoted to the Wind Surge from High-A and lefty Jaylen Nowlin re-joined the club after a stint with the Saints. Catcher Eduardo Tait, prized prospect of the deadline haul, joined Cedar Rapids. Other newly acquired pieces in High-A include left-handers Garrett Horn and Matt Mikulski. Also, right-handed pitcher Ivan Romero was promoted up to the Kernels from Fort Myers. Perhaps the most fun transaction of the day had little to do with the deadline activity. Shortstop Marek Houston, the Twins 2025 first-round pick, joined the Mighty Mussels to make his professional debut. Fellow 2025 draftees joining Houston in Fort Myers include eighth-round third baseman Ryan Sprock, 10th-round shortstop Shai Robinson, 11th-round second baseman Ryan Daniels and 17th-round third baseman JP Smith. Also, right-handed pitcher Will Armbruester was promoted up from the FCL, and undrafted free agent catcher Luis Hernandez joined Fort Myers. There was also good news regarding another player on the soon-to-be-updated Twins Daily top-20 prospect list: Catcher/outfielder Khadim Diaw. He began a rehab assignment with the Mighty Mussels. The 2024 third-round pick missed all of June and July. It wasn’t all positive news, unfortunately, as amid this rush of activity there was a trio of players demoted from Fort Myers to the inactive FCL roster (Daniel Pena, Javier Roman and Caleb McNeely), a pair of Kernels landed the Injured List (Tanner Hall and Andy Lugo), Rayne Doncon was placed on the Temporary Inactive List, Jefferson Villadares was put on the Development List and Luke Napleton and Blaze O’Saben were released. That’s over 40 players across the organization who were involved in a transaction Friday. View full article

When it was all said and done, the Minnesota Twins traded away 10 players from their MLB roster: Chris Paddack, Jhoan Duran, Harrison Bader, Brock Stewart, Danny Coulombe, Carlos Correa, Louis Varland, Ty France, Griffin Jax and Willi Castro. I'll talk more about the players they brought back via those trades, but today I just want to react to the news and take a look at what's left at the Major League level. View full video

The Minnesota Twins traded away star closer Jhoan Duran on Wednesday. They acquired Mick Abel and Eduardo Tait from the Phillies. Here are my thoughts on the trade and some info on the two new pieces coming over, including a few highlights. View full video

FRIDAY’S RESULTS Worcester 5, St. Paul 3 Wichita 3, Frisco 0 (5 innings) Cedar Rapids 4, Fort Wayne 3 (10 innings) Fort Myers 8, Lakeland 6 DSL Twins 14, DSL Miami 5 TRANSACTIONS With LHP Anthony Misiewicz placed on the Twins injured list, LHP Kody Funderburk was recalled by the Twins from St. Paul. RHP Cole Peschl was placed on the Kernels’ 7-Day IL. 3B Jay Thomason joined Fort Myers on a rehab assignment. RHP Matt Barr, LHP Matthew Becker, 2B Ryan Daniels and RHP Matthew Dalquist were assigned to the FCL Twins. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day: Kyle DeBarge, Cedar Rapids (2-for-5, walk-off single, SB) Cedar Rapids entered the bottom of the 10th inning trailing by a run, but luck was on their side. Leadoff man Andy Lugo sent a lazy dribbler up the middle that the Fort Wayne second baseman lost his footing while fielding. The infield single put runners at the corners with no outs. That same second baseman then had a potential double play ball hit to him that he booted for an error. The Kernels' bonus runner scored to tie the game, and they had two runners in scoring position with no outs. Despite first base being open, Fort Wayne decided to pitch to DeBarge. He ripped the second pitch of the at-bat through a drawn-in infield for a walk-off single. Hitting Honorable Mention: Jay Thomason, Fort Myers (1-for-1, HR, 3 BB, 2 SB) Thomason wrapped up a rough handful of games rehabbing with the FCL Twins and absolutely exploded in his first rehab game with the Mighty Mussels tonight. In addition to blasting a two-run homer, Thomason also drew three walks and stole two bases. He’s working his way back to Cedar Rapids, but Thomason has left quite a mark in Fort Myers this year, hitting .297/.465/.585 (1.050 OPS) with eight homers and 19 steals in just 38 games with the Mighty Mussels in 2025. Pitcher of the Day: Ty Langenberg, Cedar Rapids (6 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K) Langenberg gave up singles on the first two pitches he threw tonight, followed by a stolen base to put two runners in scoring position with no outs. Langenberg buckled down and struck out the next three batters to end the threat and set the tone for the evening. More trouble came in the fourth inning, however, as Langenberg walked the leadoff man. A couple of one-out singles later and Fort Worth had scratched across the first run of the game. Langenberg responded once again, retiring eight of the next nine men he faced while racking up three more strikeouts along the way. Despite the strong outing in which he surrendered just the one run over six innings, the Urbandale, Iowa-product exited with the game in a 1-1 tie. Langenberg had a strong first full pro season in 2025 but stumbled out of the gates this year. He opened this campaign with a 7.79 ERA over his first nine games (32 1/3 innings). The 23-year-old right-hander has turned the corner since, as Langenberg has posted a 2.61 ERA over his last seven outings. While some of the other numbers don’t pop as much as the ERA — he’s posted 31 strikeouts against 17 walks during this positive stretch — tonight’s effort suggests there may be more improvement coming. Here’s hoping Langenberg can keep it rolling and finish 2025 strong. Pitching Honorable Mention: Bailey Ober, St. Paul (5 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K) Ober has been sharp in both of his rehab starts with the Saints, though his velocity isn’t showing signs of climbing back to 2024 levels. He had a clean, efficient start but topped out at 91.6 mph and sat 90.5 mph with his four-seamer. While that’s not too far off the 91.7 mph mark, he averaged with that pitch last season, I’m sure the Twins would love to see him closer to that range. While we’re on the subject of high-profile Saints rehabbers, I should call out that Luke Keaschall had a scheduled day off Friday. STARTING PITCHING LINES Bailey Ober (St. Paul): 5 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 65 pitches (69.2% strikes) John Klein (Wichita): 4 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, 71 pitches (64.8% strikes) Ty Langenberg (Cedar Rapids): 6 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, 92 pitches (64.1% strikes) Jason Doktorczyk (Fort Myers): 4 1/3 IP, 5 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 90 pitches (60% strikes) Santiago Castellanos (DSL): 4 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K HOME RUNS St. Paul: Edouard Julien (10), Aaron Sabato (5th with STP, 14th of 2025) Wichita: Ben Ross (6) Cedar Rapids: Andy Lugo (3rd with CR, 7th of 2025), Justin Connell (2) Fort Myers: Jay Thomason (8th with FTM, 9th of 2025), Jose Rodriguez (8) MULTI-HIT GAMES St. Paul: Edouard Julien (3-for-4, 2B, HR), Payton Eeles (3-for-4, SB), Aaron Sabato (2-for-4, HR) Cedar Rapids: Kyle DeBarge (2-for-5, SB), Andy Lugo (2-for-4, HR) Fort Myers: Yasser Mercedes (3-for-5, 2B) DSL: Santiago Leon (2-for-4, 2B, BB, SB), Yovanny Duran (2-for-5, BB), Jose Barrios (2-for-6, SB) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for more. 1. Walker Jenkins (Wichita): 1-for-2, 2 B, K 3. Kaelen Culpepper (Wichita): 1-for-3, K 8. Gabriel Gonzalez (Wichita): 0-for-2 9. Marco Raya (St. Paul): 3 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 4 BB, 3 K, 59 pitches (57.6% strikes) 11. Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids): 0-for-4, 3 K 14. Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids): 2-for-5, RBI, SB (51), 2 K 16. Billy Amick (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-3, BB 20. Ricardo Olivar (Wichita): 1-for-1, BB CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 50-53 St. Paul Saints: 44-54 Wichita Wind Surge: 50-44 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 55-38 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 41-51 FCL Twins: 39-20 (regular season over, clinched postseason appearance) DSL Twins: 15-23 SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS St. Paul vs. Worcester, 6:37 pm CT: José Ureña Wichita vs. Frisco, 6:05 pm CT: Connor Prielipp Cedar Rapids vs. Fort Wayne, 6:35 pm CT: Alejandro Hidalgo Fort Myers vs. Lakeland, 5:05 pm CT: Dasan Hill FCL Twins vs. FCL Tigers, 11 am CT: TBD (FCL Semifinals Game 1) DSL Twins at DSL Angels, 9 am CT: TBD View full article

Walker JenkinsEmmanuel RodriguezLuke KeaschallKaelen CulpepperMarek HoustonCharlee SotoDasan HillAndrew MorrisConnor PrielippMarco RayaRiley QuickGabriel GonzalezQuentin YoungBrandon WinokurKyle DeBargeCJ CulpepperEduardo BeltreDanny De AndradeRicardo OlivarKhadim Diaw

Walker JenkinsEmmanuel RodriguezLuke KeaschallKaelen CulpepperMarek HoustonCharlee SotoDasan HillAndrew MorrisConnor PrielippMarco RayaRiley QuickGabriel GonzalezQuentin YoungBrandon WinokurKyle DeBargeCJ CulpepperEduardo BeltreDanny De AndradeRicardo OlivarKhadim Diaw

I'd be shocked if the Twins could get much of anything for Lewis right now. He has a .600 OPS over the last 365 days. Where's there a market for that? Contending teams will target guys playing well who can be expected to step right in and contribute. Rebuilding teams aren't giving up prospects for a reclamation project.

Image courtesy of William Parmeter (photo of Luke Keaschall, Walker Jenkins, Kaelen Culpepper) FRIDAY’S RESULTS St. Paul 3, Louisville 1 Springfield 4, Wichita 3 Cedar Rapids 5, Wisconsin 4 (10 innings) Fort Myers 8, Daytona 6 FCL Twins 4, FCL Red Sox 1 DSL Blue Jays Blue 12, DSL Twins 9 TRANSACTIONS RHP Bailey Ober and 2B Luke Keaschall were sent on rehab assignments to St. Paul. Ober is working his way back from a left hip impingement that sent him to the IL on July 2. He was remarkably sharp tonight, tossing four shutout innings while throwing an incredible 86 percent of his pitches for strikes (43 of 50 pitches). Ober’s four-seam fastball, which averaged 90.4 mph during his time with the Twins this season, sat 90.1 mph tonight and topped out at 91.6 mph. Keaschall suffered a right forearm fracture on a hit by pitch and was placed on the IL back on April 26. He served as the Saints’ DH tonight and went 1-for-5 with a clutch RBI single in the top of the ninth inning to give St. Paul a key insurance run. It’s noteworthy that Keaschall played the entire game, as it’s typical for a rehabbing hitter to exit early, even when they’re just DHing. RHP Noah Davis was activated by the Saints. The Twins acquired Davis from the Dodgers for cash considerations. He’s a right-handed pitcher with 23 career big league games to his credit, six of them starts. He had a 3.94 ERA and 1.22 WHIP with 38 strikeouts and 15 walks in 32 innings for the Dodgers’ Triple-A affiliate this season. OF Emmanuel Rodriguez was placed on the 7-day IL with a right oblique strain. Sigh. The Saints played their 92nd game of the season tonight. Rodriguez has only been able to play in 43 of them. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day: Walker Jenkins, Wichita Jenkins provided half of Wichita’s hits tonight, including a clutch two-out, game-tying double in the top of the eighth inning. On an 0-2 pitch, Jenkins looked like he just slapped the ball the other way upon first glance, but the hit carried all the way to the warning track, allowing Jake Rucker to score from first base. The game remained tied into the bottom of the ninth inning, and with the first two Springfield hitters retired, it looked like Jenkins would have another chance in the top of the 10th inning. Unfortunately, that wasn’t meant to be. Springfield strung together a two-out rally with a single, wild pitch, walk and walk-off infield single to win. Jenkins went 3-for-4 tonight, tallying his first three-hit game of the season. He’s hitting .270/.405/.393 (.798 OPS) in 24 games with the Wind Surge this season. Pitcher of the Day: Santiago Castellano, DSL Twins If you want to be a truly hardcore prospect sicko, you can watch DSL Twins games on YouTube. Here’s a link to Friday afternoon’s stream, in which Castellanos got things started with three excellent innings. The video for these live streams is as barebones as it gets. There are two fixed cameras and no play-by-play, let alone any audio at all. Still, I applaud the organization for providing the opportunity for family and friends to be able to watch these guys play. Well, and us prospect sickos, too. While the overall presentation of these live streams is rudimentary, there’s a bevy of real-time statcast data included toward the bottom of the screen. You can see the pitch velocity, spin rate, induced vertical break, exit velocity, launch angle and distance of every single pitch/hit as it happens. That’s incredible! Back to Castellanos, with three one-hit innings of shutout ball Friday, he now has a 0.87 ERA and 0.97 WHIP in 20 2/3 innings on the season. He struck out three batters and walked one today, giving him 26 Ks and seven walks total (31.3 K%, 8.4 BB%). He was consistently hitting 94 mph with his fastball. Among his secondaries, there were some mid-80s changeups I thought looked good, especially for a pitcher his age. Speaking of which, let’s all wish Santiago a belated Happy Birthday! He turned 17-years-old yesterday. He was born in 2008 … let that sink in for a moment. I own multiple shirseys older than this kid. STARTING PITCHING LINES Bailey Ober (St. Paul): 4 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 50 pitches (86% strikes) C.J. Culpepper (Wichita): 3 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, 46 pitches (54.4% strikes) Ty Langenberg (Cedar Rapids): 5 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 77 pitches (64.9% strikes) Michael Carpenter (Fort Myers): 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 37 pitches (59.5% strikes) Sam Rochard (FCL): 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 38 pitches (71.1% strikes) Santiago Castellanos (DSL): 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K HOME RUNS St. Paul: Carson McCusker (19) DSL: Joyner Perez (1) MULTI-HIT GAMES Wichita: Walker Jenkins (3-for-4, 2B) Cedar Rapids: Kyle Hess (2-for-4, BB) Fort Myers: Peyton Carr (2-for-2, 3B, 2 BB), Bryan Acuña (2-for-4, BB) FSL: Jayson Bass (2-for-3, SB) DSL: Santiago Leon (3-for-4, 3B), Jose Barrios (3-for-5, SB), Darwin Almanzar (2-for-4, 2B), Cristian Bonifacio (2-for-4, 2B) ADDITIONAL NOTES Kaelen Culpepper exited tonight’s Wind Surge game in the bottom of the fourth inning. I took a look back at his final plate appearance, which was to end the top of the third inning, and his final defensive play, which was in the bottom of the third, and saw no obvious signs of discomfort. PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for more. 1. Walker Jenkins (Wichita): 3-for-4, 2B, R, RBI, K 2. Luke Keaschall (rehab with St. Paul): 1-for-5, RBI, K 4. Kaelen Culpepper (Wichita): 0-for-2 10. Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-3, BB, RBI, SB (47) 12. Billy Amick (Cedar Rapids): 0-for-5, 2 K 13. Gabriel Gonzalez (Wichita): 1-for-3, 2B, BB, R 14. C.J. Culpepper (Wichita): 3 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, 46 pitches (54.4% strikes) 15. Eduardo Beltre (FCL): 0-for-2, BB, HBP R, 2 SB (17) 18. Ricardo Olivar (Wichita): 1-for-4, RBI, K 19. Danny De Andrade (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-5, R, K 20. Payton Eeles (St. Paul): 1-for-4, K, SB (7) CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 47-50 St. Paul Saints: 43-49 Wichita Wind Surge: 46-42 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 52-35 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 37-49 FCL Twins: 35-18 DSL Twins: 12-22 TOMORROW’S PROBABLE STARTERS St. Paul at Louisville, 6:15 pm CT: Marco Raya Wichita at Springfield, 6:35 pm CT: John Klein Cedar Rapids vs. Wisconsin, 6:35 pm CT: Alejandro Hidalgo Fort Myers vs. Daytona, 5:05 pm CT: Dasan Hill FCL Twins vs. FCL Red Sox, 9 am CT: TBD View full article

I like tri-tater. That one is the leader in the clubhouse. Good point. I may have been thinking more with my stomach than my head. I gotta make sure to eat something before sitting down to write these things. I haven't heard anything, but he's waaay off my radar these days. Now that he's off the 40-man roster, it's even less likely any updates will be relayed.

FRIDAY’S RESULTS Iowa 8, St. Paul 7 (called in the eighth due to rain) San Antonio 7, Wichita 2 Cedar Rapids 4, Peoria 3 Cedar Rapids 6, Peoria 5 (called in the sixth due to rain) Fort Myers 4, Clearwater 1 FCL Twins 3, FCL Red Sox 2 FCL Twins, Game 2: Suspended in the third due to rain DSL Phillies 4, DSL Twins 1 TRANSACTIONS None. Wait … is that a real thing? Seems fake. It’s pretty rare to have a day with zero moves across the system. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day: Jaime Ferrer, Cedar Rapids (2-for-3, 2 HRs, 2 R, 2 RBI) Ferrer was the meat of a home run sandwich for the Kernels. Yes, I’m trying to create some new baseball lingo. Home run sandwich rolls off the tongue better than back-to-back-to-back homers. OK, maybe it’s not my most inspired creative moment, but I’m trying here. We as a baseball community need to up our nomenclature! Let me know in the comments what suggestions you have to re-name back-to-back-to-back homers. Anyway … In the first game of the Kernels doubleheader, Andy Lugo opened the scoring in the second inning with a solo homer. Ferrer followed with a home run of his own, then Kendle provided a third-consecutive Cedar Rapids tater. Ferrer also went deep in his next at-bat, giving the Kernels a 4-1 lead with all of their runs scored on solo homers. The second blast Ferrer provided turned out to be the difference, with Cedar Rapids hanging on to win 4-3. After logging just one inning at catcher in his three seasons at FSU, Ferrer is trying to convert back to the position he was more familiar with prior to his collegiate days. He’s made 18 starts at catcher, 18 at first base, eight in right field, seven in left field and seven as the designated hitter this season. There have been several good pieces written on Ferrer’s journey in baseball while navigating Type 1 diabetes, including one from Jeff Johnson of the Cedar Rapids Gazette last month. He’s an easy guy to root for. Pitcher of the Day: Christian MacLeod, Wichita (5 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K) MacLeod got ahead 0-2 of the first batter he faced tonight and ended up walking him. That seems like an awfully bad omen, but the 25-year-old lefty managed to get right and retired the next three batters in order. The leadoff man reached again in the second inning, but MacLeod managed to post another zero. San Antonio got the first two batters aboard in the third, and MacLeod ran out of magic. The Missions scratched across three runs on some dinks, dunks and an error committed by left fielder Ricardo Olivar. MacLeod allowed the leadoff man to reach again in the fourth, but struck out the next two batters on a total of eight pitches before getting the final out of the frame on a fly out. In his fifth and final inning, MacLeod retired not only the leadoff man, but also the side in order. While he was constantly pitching out of the stretch, it’s not like he gave up much loud contact tonight. All five hits MacLeod surrendered were singles. MacLeod has been quietly consistent for the Wind Surge this season. This was just the second time in 11 Double-A outings this year that he’s surrendered as many as three runs. Tonight’s outing increases his ERA to 2.25 over 40 innings with Wichita this year. He has a 2.97 ERA, 1.25 WHIP and 9.2 K/9 in 78 2/3 career Double-A innings. Taking a look at the big picture, the only lefties currently on the Twins roster are Danny Coulombe, a logical trade candidate, and the recently-promoted Anthony Misiewicz, a 30-year-old crafty journeyman. Aside from those two, Kody Funderburk is the only other southpaw on the 40-man roster. If I had to pick an under-the-radar minor leaguer who could debut later this season, MacLeod would be on my shortlist. Maybe that says more about the Twins’ current stable lefties than it does MacLeod, but still. While MacLeod’s velocity is not impressive, he features a competitive spirit and a big, beautiful bender. It’s Kershaw-esque, at least in terms of appearance. STARTING PITCHING LINES Randy Dobnak (St. Paul): 4 2/3 IP, 10 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 90 pitches (65.6% strikes) Christian MacLeod (Wichita): 5 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 84 pitches (70.2% strikes) Cole Peschl (Cedar Rapids, G1): 5 IP, 9 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 66 pitches (72.7% strikes) Chase Chaney (Cedar Rapids, G2): 3 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 62 pitches (61.3% strikes) Christian Becerra (Fort Myers): 5 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 49 pitches (73.5% strikes) Sam Rochard (FCL Twins): 2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 36 pitches (69.4% strikes) Juan Figaro (DSL Twins): 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K HOME RUNS St. Paul: Edouard Julien (9), Jose Miranda (4). Wichita: Ricardo Olivar (11). Cedar Rapids: Jaime Ferrer 2 (3), Andy Lugo (2), Caden Kendle (5), Maddux Houghton (2). Fort Myers: Angel Del Rosario (2). DSL Twins: Ramiro Dominguez (3), Jayson Bass (1). MULTI-HIT GAMES Austin Martin (St. Paul): 3-for-4 Edouard Julien (St. Paul): 2-for-4, HR Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul): 2-for-4, 2B Ricardo Olivar (Wichita): 2-for-3, HR, BB Jaime Ferrer (Cedar Rapids, G1): 2-for-3, 2 HR Caden Kendle (Cedar Rapids, G1): 3-for-3, HR Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids, G1): 2-for-3 Maddux Houghton (Cedar Rapids, G2): 2-for-3, HR, 3B Angel Del Rosario (Fort Myers): 3-for-3, HR Cristian Bonifacio (DSL Twins): 2-for-3, 2B ADDITIONAL NOTES Weather disrupted three different games across the system tonight, with the Saints and Kernels both having a game called early and the FCL Twins having a game suspended and to be completed tomorrow. St. Paul: Carson McCusker was robbed of an outfield assist. He put his throw right on the money, but third baseman Jose Miranda was called for interfering with the runner. Saints broadcaster Sean Aronson referred to the call as both “terrible” and “horrendous.” I agree. Here’s a link to the replay, if you’d like to be annoyed. After adding three more hits tonight, Austin Martin has a .375/.477/.458 slash line (.935 OPS) in 21 games for the Saints this season. Wichita: There was no Walker Jenkins or Kaelen Culpepper in the Wind Surge lineup tonight. Culpepper will be participating in the All-Star Futures Game tomorrow. The game starts at 3 pm CT and is available to watch on MLB Network, MLB.TV, MLB.com and the MLB app. Cedar Rapids: Samuel Perez protected a one-run lead in the first game of today’s doubleheader to earn his second save of the season for the Kernels. Fort Myers: In his 56th game of the season for the Mussels, Yasser Mercedes stole his 25th base. He’s yet to be caught stealing in FSL action this season, though he did oddly get thrown out twice during a five-game rehab assignment with the FCL Twins. Go figure. FCL Twins: Jayson Bass’ home run was a walk-off shot. The 19-year-old has a .303/.425/.515 batting line in 13 games (a .940 OPS). He also stole his fifth base of the season today. PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for more. 3. Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul): 2-for-4, 2B, 2 R, RBI 9. Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids): 2-for-3, 2B 10. Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-7, 3B, RBI, K 12. Billy Amick (Cedar Rapids): 2-for-7, R, RBI, 4 K 13. Gabriel Gonzalez (Wichita): 1-for-4, K 15. Eduardo Beltre (FCL): 0-for-4 18. Ricardo Olivar (Wichita): 2-for-3, HR (11), BB, R, RBI, K 19. Danny De Andrade (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-7, RBI, 2 K 20. Payton Eeles (St. Paul): 0-for-3, BB, K CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 46-48 St. Paul Saints: 41-48 Wichita Wind Surge: 46-39 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 49-35 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 35-48 FCL Twins: 31-15 DSL Twins: 9-20 TOMORROW’S PROBABLE STARTERS St. Paul vs. Iowa, 6:37 pm CT: Connor Gillispie Wichita vs. San Antonio, 6:05 pm CT: C.J. Culpepper Cedar Rapids at Peoria, 7:05 pm CT: Ty Langenberg Fort Myers at Clearwater, 5:30 pm CT: Dasan Hill FCL Twins vs. FCL Red Sox, 9 am CT: TBD FCL Twins at FCL Red Sox: Completion of Friday’s game DSL Twins vs. DSL Tigers 2, 9 am CT: TBD View full article