Tom Froemming

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

Tom runs through the biggest changes he made to his Twins prospect list this month. In addition to some names moving up, there were also a handful of new names that cracked the top-50 list. Among the players discussed were Marco Raya, Gabriel Gonzalez, Kala’i Rosario, Kyler Fedko, Pierson Ohl, Andrew Cossetti, Aaron Sabato, and many more. View full video

Image courtesy of Ed Bailey, Wichita Wind Surge (image of Walker Jenkins) This holiday edition of the Minor League Report is a bit stripped down from what you’re used to here at Twins Daily. For more info on the individual games, click the links to the box scores in the results section below. RESULTS Gwinnett 4, St. Paul 3 Wichita 14, Tulsa 2 Cedar Rapids 6, Quad Cities 3 Bradenton 14, Fort Myers 1 FCL Twins: Postponed due to rain DSL Twins 16, DSL NYY Bombers 5 (completion of June 16 game) DSL NYY Bombers 9, DSL Twins 5 TRANSACTIONS Emmanuel Rodriguez’s rehab assignment was moved from the FCL Twins to the Mighty Mussels. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day: Marco Raya, St. Paul (6 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 3 K) Raya continues to show he’s put a disastrous start to the season behind him. Tonight, he completed six innings for the first time this season, and has now gone at least five frames in four of his last five starts. Things didn’t get off to an encouraging start, as Raya loaded the bases in the first inning. He worked out of the jam and experienced little turbulence from there. He helped his own cause by fielding his position very well tonight. He made a great play coming in off the mound to his right and started two double plays. Raya got nine swinging strikes and topped out at 96.2 mph. His feature pitch tonight was the sweeper, which he deployed 24 times, but he also threw 19 curveballs. Raya threw 52 of his 86 pitches for strikes (60.5 percent) and walked four batters, so it wasn’t all sterling, but tonight was another big step in the right direction. This was the first time Raya completed six innings since August 9, 2024, and the first time he has done so in Triple A. His ERA on the season is still ugly, but Raya has surrendered six earned runs over his last 24 2/3 innings, a 2.19 ERA. Hitter of the Day: Walker Jenkins, Wichita (2-for-3, HR, 3 BB, 2 R, 4 RBI, K) Not only did Jenkins crush a three-run homer to center field, but he was also only retired once in six trips to the plate tonight. After striking out in the first inning, Jenkins hit an RBI single in the second and his three-run homer in the third. At that point, Tulsa pitchers wanted nothing to do with him. He walked in the fourth, sixth, and ninth innings. Jenkins’ big game was part of a huge offensive outburst by the WInd Surge, as they scored 14 runs on 16 hits and nine walks. In 16 games with Wichita this season, Jenkins has hit .271/.419/.424 (.843 OPS), with 14 walks, 15 strikeouts and seven stolen bases. STARTING PITCHERS Marco Raya (St. Paul): 6 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 3 K C.J. Culpepper (Wichita): 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K Cole Peschl (Cedar Rapids): 6 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K Eli Jones (Fort Myers): 4 1/3 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 2 BB, 0 K Omar Montano (DSL, Game 1): 3 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K Santiago Castelllanos (DSL, Game 2): 4 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 6 K NOTES: C.J. Culpepper squatted for a moment on the mound a couple of times between pitches during the first inning. It’s difficult to even speculate why that might have been. Perhaps his legs were feeling stiff; maybe he had an uneasy stomach. Whatever the issue was, Wichita manager Brian Dinkleman decided he’d rather be safe than sorry. HOME RUNS Walker Jenkins (Wichita), second with Wichita and third of the season. Gabriel Gonzalez (Wichita), first with Wichita, sixth of the season. Justin Connell (Cedar Rapids), first of the season. MULTI-HIT GAMES Gabriel Gonzalez (Wichita): 3-for-5, 2B, HR, BB Walker Jenkins (Wichita): 2-for-3, HR, 3 BB Kala’i Rosario (Wichita): 2-for-6 Rubel Cespedes (Wichita): 2-for-5, 2B Andrew Cossetti (Wichita): 2-for-4, BB Ben Ross (Wichita): 2-for-4 Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids): 3-for-3, BB Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids): 2-for-4, SB (45) Caden Kendle (Cedar Rapids): 2-for-4, 2B Teilon Serrano (DSL): 2-for-5, 2B Yovanny Duran (DSL): 3-for-4, 2 3Bs, SB (1) Jhomnardo Reyes (DSL): 3-for-5, SB (3) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for more. 1. Walker Jenkins (Wichita): 2-for-3, HR, 3 BB, 2 R, 4 RBI, K 3. Emmanuel Rodriguez (on rehab with Fort Myers): 1-for-3, 2B, BB, RBI, K 4. Kaelen Culpepper (Wichita): 1-for-5, BB, RBI, K 9. Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids): 3-for-3, BB, 2 R 10. Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids): 2-for-4, SB (45), K 11. Marco Raya (St. Paul): 6 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 3 K 12. Billy Amick (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-4, K 13. Gabriel Gonzalez (Wichita): 3-for-5, 2B, HR, BB, R, 2 RBI 14. CJ Culpepper (Wichita): 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K 18. Ricardo Olivar (Wichita): 1-for-3, 2 BB, SB (9), 3 R, RBI, K 19. Danny De Andrade (Cedar Rapids): 0-for-4, 2 K 20. Payton Eeles (St. Paul): 0-for-4 CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 42-46 St. Paul Saints: 37-46 Wichita Wind Surge: 44-35 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 45-34 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 32-45 FCL Twins: 26-14 DSL Twins: 7-17 TOMORROW’S PROBABLE STARTERS St. Paul at Gwinnett, 6:05 pm CT: Randy Dobnak Wichita vs. Tulsa, 6:05 pm CT: Christian MacLeod Cedar Rapids vs. Quad Cities, 6:35 pm CT: Alejandro Hidalgo Fort Myers vs. Bradenton, 5:05 pm CT: Dasan Hill FCL Twins vs. FCL Red Sox, 9 am CT: TBD FCL Twins at FCL Red Sox, Game 2: TBD DSL Twins at DSL White Sox, 9 am CT: TBD View full article

CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 40-42 St. Paul Saints: 35-41 Wichita Wind Surge: 40-33 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 42-31 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 31-40 FCL Twins: 24-13 DSL Twins: 5-13 TRANSACTIONS Royce Lewis joined the Saints on a rehab assignment. He suffered a left hamstring strain on June 13. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 6, Louisville 5 Box Score Louisville manufactured a run in the top of the ninth inning to take the lead but the Saints were ready with a response. Payton Eeles led off the bottom of the ninth with a single, followed by a Jeferson Morales six-pitch walk. Will Holland managed to get a sacrifice bunt down on a 99.5 mph sinker to advance both runners into scoring position. Noah Cardenes didn’t have to do much to get the speedy Eeles in from third. Cardenes hit a weak grounder toward the shortstop that the third baseman cut off. He was out at first on a bang-bang play, but Eeles scampered home to score the tying run. After Anthony Prato was hit with a 100.6 mph fastball, Edouard Julien lined the second pitch he saw just over the leaping second baseman to give the Saints a walk-off win. It was Julien’s only hit of the night, but he’s been a standout performer in June. He has a .305/.436/.537 line so far this month for the Saints, a .973 OPS. Also tonight, Cory Lewis had by far his best outing of the season. Not only did he go five innings for the first time in 2025, he only gave up one run on two hits. He walked two batters and struck out six. As Cody Christie wrote about yesterday, Lewis has pivoted from a pitcher who mixes in a knuckleball to using that unique offering as his primary pitch. Of his 75 pitches tonight, Lewis threw the knuckler 41 times. Despite a lack of premium velocity, Lewis was able to baffle lower-level hitters without having to rely much on the knuckleball. That’s not been the case in Triple-A, and it’s great to see him finding a new way to be successful. Royce Lewis was 0-for-3 with a strikeout as the DH in the first game of his rehab assignment. WIND SURGE WISDOM Springfield 10, Wichita 7 Box Score Connor Prielipp got knocked around tonight, but his defense also let him down a couple times. Springfield loaded the bases with two outs, but what should have been an inning-ending groundout to third was an error instead. The Cardinals scored two runs on that error, then two more on a liner through the middle. Prielipp faced the minimum in the second inning, but gave up a leadoff single followed by a two-run homer in the third inning. While the error in the first inning definitely hurt, there were just a lot of balls in play. Springfield seemed to be seeing the ball well against Prielipp, who only struck out one of the 18 batters he faced tonight. The Wind Surge lineup battled back to tie the game at 7-7 in the bottom of the fifth. The score remained tied until the Cardinals tallied three runs in the top of the ninth inning. Kyler Fedko had a monster game, going 3-for-4 with two home runs, the first being a grand slam off top Cardinals pitching prospect Tink Hence. Fedko is up to 16 home runs in 64 games played this year after hitting just three in 76 games last season. He also drove in six runs tonight, giving him 44 RBIs. That’s up from just 21 last season. It’s a monster power breakout from Fedko, who is hitting .262/.380/.515 (.895 OPS). Walker Jenkins reached safely four times, going 2-for-3 with a pair of walks. He also stole his fifth base in 10 games with Wichita. KERNELS NUGGETS Game 1: Cedar Rapids 6, South Bend 5 Box Score This was a continuation of yesterday’s game, which was postponed in the third inning. The Kernels trailed 5-0 at that point. They didn’t take long to erase that deficit today. The Cedar Rapids lineup put together a great two-out rally in the bottom of the third inning. Misael Urbina drew an eight-pitch walk before singles from Kyle DeBarge and Brandon Winokur. Then Danny De Andrade blasted the first pitch he saw for an opposite-field game-tying grand slam. DeBarge put the Kernels up with an RBI double in the bottom of the fifth inning. Jose Olivares took over on the mound for the Kernels when the game restarted today and was the only pitcher they needed to finish it off. The 22-year-old right-hander delivered six innings for the second straight outing, and held his opponent scoreless for the fifth time this season. He yielded just three hits, walked two batters and tallied seven strikeouts. Things got hairy in the ninth inning. Trying to protect a one-run lead, Olivares walked the leadoff man, then gave up a single. He responded by getting a massive strikeout followed by a ground out to first base and a fly out to left field to end it. Game 2: South Bend 12, Cedar Rapids 4 Box Score Kernels starter Jeremy Lee got off to a very rough start and Wilker Reyes couldn’t help out much as the first man out of the bullpen. The Cubs tallied all 12 of their runs in the first three innings. Billy Amick was 2-for-4 with a double and was the only Cedar Rapids hitter with a mutli-hit game. Kyle DeBarge stole his 41st base of the season. He’s 41-for-42 on stolen base attempts this season and has a total of 56 steals in 92 games. MUSSEL MATTERS Tampa 5, Fort Myers 3 Box Score Tampa scored all their runs in the first two innings, as Mussels starter Dylan Questad struggled to find the strike zone (again). He walked five batters in his three innings of work, hit another, and threw less than 50 percent of his pitches for strikes. While the rest of the Fort Myers pitching staff did great — two innings each from Brennen Oxford and Ivran Romero followed by a frame from Zander Sechrist — the lineup couldn’t get much going. Tampa starter Xavier Rivas struck out 13 batters in 5 2/3 innings without issuing a walk. Byron Chourio and Angel Del Rosario were the only Mighty Mussels with multi-hit games. Del Rosario also stole his 26th base of the season. COMPLEX CHRONICLES Postponed due to rain. Makeup on July 4. DOMINICAN DAILIES DSL Twins 15, DSL Tigers (1) 3 Box Score Among the methods in which the DSL Twins scored runs were a bases-loaded hit by pitch, two throwing errors and two wild pitches. Dominican Summer League baseball, ladies and gentlemen! The Twins also did some damage with their bats, of course. Cristian Bonifacio, a 17-year-old Dominican, hit his first pro homer. Carlos Taveras reached safely four times, going 2-for-3 with a double and a pair of walks. On the mound, Santiago Castellanos continued a stellar start to his pro career. The Venezuelan right-hander pitched four near perfect innings while striking out seven batters. He didn’t surrender any hits or walks, but he did hit a couple of batters. Castellanos has a 1.32 ERA, 0.95 WHIP and 17 strikeouts in 13 2/3 innings so far this season. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day: Jose Olivares, Cedar Rapids (6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K) Hitter of the Day: Kyler Fedko, Wichita (3-for-4, 2 HR, BB, 6 RBI, 3 R) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for more. 1. Walker Jenkins (Wichita): 2-for-3, 2 BB, 2 R, SB (5), K 4. Kaelen Culpepper (Wichita): 1-for-4, BB, R, SB (1), 2 K 5. Connor Prielipp (Wichita): 3 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 K 9. Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids): 2-for-8, R, K 10. Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids): 3-for-7, 2 2B, BB, SB (41), 2 R, 3 RBI, K 12. Billy Amick (Cedar Rapids): 2-for-8, 2B, R, RBI, 2 K 13. Gabriel Gonzalez (Wichita): 1-for-4, BB, K 17. Cory Lewis (St. Paul): 5 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 6 K 19. Danny De Andrade (Cedar Rapids): 2-for-8, GS HR, R, 4 RBI, 4 K 20. Payton Eeles (St. Paul): 2-for-3, BB, 2 R, K TOMORROW’S PROBABLE STARTERS St. Paul vs. Louisville, 4:07 pm CT: Marco Raya St. Paul vs. Louisville, Game 2: José Ureña Wichita vs. Springfield, 6:05 pm CT: Darren Bowen Cedar Rapids vs. South Bend, 6:35 pm CT: Cole Peschl Fort Myers at Tampa, 5:30 pm CT: Dasan Hill FCL Twins at FCL Red Sox, 9 am CT: TBD DSL Twins vs. DSL Marlins, 9 am CT: TBD View full article

CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 37-40 St. Paul Saints: 33-40 Wichita Wind Surge: 37-32 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 41-28 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 29-38 FCL Twins: 23-11 DSL Twins: 3-11 TRANSACTIONS Fort Myers activated OF Jose Rodriguez from the temporary inactive list. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 3, Toledo 2 (10 innings) Box Score How do we get this version of Marco Raya more often? He threw 51 of his 76 pitches for strikes. That’s 67 percent strikes from a guy who entered today’s game with a 58 strike percentage on the year. As a result, Raya had averaged 6.4 BB/9 entering this outing. Today, he only issued one walk. When Raya is sharp like this, it’s a sight to see. Over five innings, he only surrendered three hits and struck out eight batters. Raya topped out at 96.3 mph with his fastball, but featured his curveball, throwing that pitch 21 times and getting six swinging strikes. On the outing, Raya racked up 12 swinging strikes. Unfortunately, the St. Paul lineup couldn’t provide Raya with any support and Travis Adams surrendered a pair of runs the inning after Raya’s exit. Adams did eventually settle in, however, as he delivered four innings of two-run ball despite walking four batters. The Saints lineup eventually got it together, too. Yunior Severino led off the seventh inning with a walk, then Will Holland hit a double. After Diego Cartaya struck out, Edouard Julien was intentionally walked to load the bases. That proved to be an act of overconfidence, as Anthony Prato drew a five-pitch walk to push across the first Saints run of the game. Ryan Fitzgerald ended the potential rally by grounding into an inning-ending double play. With the Saints trailing by a run in the bottom of the ninth, Yunior Severino belted a leadoff, game-tying homer. The exit velocity on the opposite field blast was 105.0 mph and the projected distance was 420 feet, the second-longest home run hit across all of Triple-A today. Severino also boasted the hardest hit ball of the day at the level, a lineout he drove 110.7 mph. The dude is strong. In a 2-2 game in the bottom of the 10th inning, Toledo turned to Riley Unroe on the mound. On one hand, he’s a position player. On the other hand, he picked up a win on the mound against the Saints earlier in the week after recording the final six outs for Toledo. So I guess it’s difficult to view that strategy as ridiculous when it was recently effective. Unroe was able to retire the first batter he faced, but Aaron Sabato ended the nonsense by hitting a 45 mph lob that was about a foot outside the other way for a walk-off single. WIND SURGE WISDOM Arkansas 9, Wichita 2 Box Score This game got out of hand in a hurry. Wichita starter Darren Bowen gave up five runs in the first inning before Joel Cesar surrendered four more in the fourth, putting the Wind Surge in an early 9-0 hole. To make matters worse, the lineup went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position. Kaelen Culpepper went 1-for-5 as the leadoff man and committed a fielding error at shortstop. Walker Jenkins hit third and was 1-for-4 with a double. Gabriel Gonzalez had yet another strong performance, going 3-for-4 with a walk. He’s hitting .358/.430/.473 (.902 OPS) in 27 games since being promoted to Wichita. KERNELS NUGGETS Beloit 3, Cedar Rapids 2 Box Score The Kernels had great scoring chances in both the eighth and ninth innings, but could not find a way to scratch across the game-tying run. Jaime Ferrer had the only Cedar Rapids RBI, as he drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the second inning. Their other run came when Caden Kendle stole third base and scored on a throwing error. The eighth opened with singles from Danny De Andrade and Misael Urbina. A Kyle Hess single loaded the bases with one out, but they failed to capitalize. Cedar Rapids also led off the ninth inning with back-to-back singles, this time coming from Poncho Ruiz and Justin Connell. They came up empty once again. On a more positive note, Cole Peschl continues to be a dependable arm. He gave up three runs on four hits, but also delivered 5 1/3 innings and didn’t issue a walk. Peschl has gone at least five innings in four consecutive starts. He's not exactly an ironman, but that kind of consistency seems to be becoming more rare these days. The newly-acquired Andy Lugo was the offensive star for Cedar Rapids. He was 3-for-4 with a double and stole two bases. Lugo, acquired from Boston in the Jorge Alcala trade, has hit .370/.452/.593 (1.045 OPS) in his first eight games in the org. Kyle DeBarge stole his 38th base of the season in this one. He’s now 38-for-39 in stolen base attempts over 62 games played this season. MUSSEL MATTERS Lakeland 8, Fort Myers 4 Box Score This was a back-and-forth affair with Lakeland delivering a knockout blow late. The Flying Tigers broke a tie to go up 5-4 in the seventh inning before breaking out with a three-run eighth inning. Billy Amick, in the fifth game of his rehab assignment, was 2-for-4 and played a full game at third base. He also had the two highest exit velocities of this game, hitting a double at 105.3 mph along with a 102.8 mph single. Former indy baller Blaze O’Saben was 3-for-4 with a double, three RBIs and a stolen base for the Mighty Mussels. Dameury Pena also had a multi-hit game and stole a base. Fort Myers starter Eli Jones surrendered four runs on seven hits over three innings while also walking three batters and hitting another. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day: Marco Raya, St. Paul (5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K) Hitter of the Day: Andy Lugo, Cedar Rapids (3-for-4, 2B, 2 SB, R) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for more. 1. Walker Jenkins (Wichita): 1-for-4, 2B, RBI, K 4. Kaelen Culpepper (Wichita): 1-for-5, 2 K 10. Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids): 0-for-5, K, SB (38) 11. Marco Raya (St. Paul): 5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K 13. Gabriel Gonzalez (Wichita): 3-for-4, BB, R 18. Ricardo Olivar (Wichita): 0-for-3, RBI, K 19. Danny De Andrade (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-5, K 20. Payton Eeles (St. Paul): 2-for-3, BB TOMORROW’S PROBABLE STARTERS FCL Twins at FCL Rays, 11 am CT: TBD DSL Twins at DSL Phillies White, 10 am CT: TBD View full article

Jenkins moves well, especially for his size. His speed is above average, but he may slow a bit as he ages and/or adds strength. He's been more aggressive this season, swiping six bases in 14 total games. He had 17 steals in 82 games last year. I think a lot of his base stealing future will depend on 1) How motivated he is to make that part of his game, and 2) Whether the team will give him the green light. If he continues to get as injured as often as he has, I imagine they'll discourage him from running. Like with everything else, stealing bases is easier in the minors. I do think the Twins have prioritized speed and athleticism more in recent drafts than they had previously in the Falvey era, so that's definitely part of the picture. Not sure on coaching differences, but it's possible. I'd imagine those coaches are mostly operating on a plan that comes from above, though. Something I find interesting is this year's Wichita team is running a lot more than the 2023 Kernels did despite having the same manager and a lot of the same personnel on both those teams.

Image courtesy of David Malamut CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 37-38 St. Paul Saints: 32-39 Wichita Wind Surge: 37-30 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 40-27 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 28-37 FCL Twins: 22-11 DSL Twins: 2-11 TRANSACTIONS With Cedar Rapids having clinched a first half title, Kaelen Culpepper was promoted up to Wichita. He hit .293/.385/.479 (.864 OPS) with a 16.2 K%, 10.5 BB% and 15 steals on 17 attempts while providing strong defense at shortstop for the Kernels. This move is a bit of a homecoming for Culpepper. Though he’s originally from Memphis, the 22-year-old played his college ball at Kansas State, which is only a little over two hours from Wichita. Culpepper did not make his Wind Surge debut this evening. Check back in tomorrow. The St. Paul Saints activated SS Ryan Fitgerald from the 7-day IL and sent veteran RHP Erasmo Ramírez on a rehab assignment to the FCL Twins. Fitzgerald has been an excellent minor league signing by the Twins, as he’s posted an .845 OPS in 47 games with the Saints and even made a couple of appearances on the big club. Ramírez has more than 300 MLB games to his credit, but he’s missed this entire season to date with a shoulder injury. The Wind Surge placed LF Tyler Dearden on the Development List. SAINTS SENTINEL Toledo 18, St. Paul 7 Box Score Welp, at least the Saints hit a buncha homers. Carson McCusker hit his 14th home run of the season, Eduard Julien went deep in a three-hit night and Saints newcomers Noah Cardenas and Aaron Sabato each hit their second homers since being promoted. On the other hand, St. Paul pitching only surrendered a pair of home runs. They just gave up loads of everything else. Toledo racked up 16 hits, eight walks and were a bonkers 9-for-18 with runners in scoring position. Former Twins great Manny Margot was 3-for-6 and Akil Baddoo hit a couple doubles and drew three walks for Toledo. Saints starter Darren McCaughan gave up nine runs over three innings and things didn’t get any better from there for the St. Paul pitching staff. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 7, Arkansas 2 Box Score It’s not often you see an honest to goodness straight steal of home these days. Typically, it’s done on a double steal where the runner going to second draws a throw while the other runner scampers home. Well, Ben Ross straight-up stole home tonight on a return throw from the catcher back to the pitcher. Ross was 1-for-2 with a pair of walks and stole three bases tonight, giving him 10 steals on the season. Walker Jenkins also had a hit and two walks, though he “only” stole two bases. Gabriel Gonzalez had a three-hit night and chipped in a steal of his own, giving the Wind Surge six stolen bases. C.J. Culpepper made his second start since rejoining Wichita. He struck out six batters over 3 2/3 innings of work, but also walked three. Culpepper only surrendered one earned run, the first he’s given up in 11 2/3 innings on the season. Mike Paredes improved to 8-0 on the season after providing 3 1/3 innings of shutout ball. He has a 2.39 ERA and 1.10 WHIP on the year over 52 2/3 innings for the Wind Surge. KERNELS NUGGETS Beloit 6, Cedar Rapids 5 Box Score Maddux Houghton, who is known for his defense, made a great play in center field. He went a long way, left his feet, and slammed into the wall while making the catch. Houghton also got the Kernels on the board with his bat, hitting a two-run double in seventh inning. The Kernels put together a five-run rally in the frame to take the lead, but couldn’t hang on to win it. With Culpepper on his way to Wichita, Brandon Winokur hit leadoff and started at shortstop. It was Winokur’s 16th start there so far this season. He’s made 39 starts in center field, eight at third base and two as the designated hitter. Winokur was 0-for-4 with three strikeouts, though he did reach on an error and scored a run. Jacob Kisting, a 14th-round pick in last year’s draft, delivered 2 1/3 of scoreless, hitless ball out of the bullpen. He’s yet to surrender a run in three outings since being promoted to Cedar Rapids earlier this month. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers 6, Lakeland 5 Box Score What a comeback! The Tigers jumped out to a 5-0 lead by the top of the seventh inning, but the Mighty Mussels showed some mighty mettle. Fort Myers loaded the bases with no outs in the seventh inning and managed to scratch across two runs. The eighth inning got off to a less encouraging start, as their first two batters struck out. Daniel Pena drew a two-out walk, then Jefferson Valladares hit his fourth home run of the season to bring the Mussels within one run of Lakeland. The game-winning rally in the bottom of the ninth inning got started with a Dameury Pena walk. He advanced to third on a double from Billy Amick, who is on a rehab assignment. Angel Del Rosario came in to pinch run for Amick, and the extra speed on the bases paid off. Yasser Mercedes finished off the comeback by hitting a grounder through the drawn-in infield and into center. Pena scored the game-tying run and Del Rosario raced around third to give Fort Myers a walk-off win to open the second half of their season. Hopefully this is a page-turning victory for Fort Myers, who were 27-37 in the first half, and a page-turning start for Adrian Bohorquez. The 20-year-old Venezuelan struck out eight batters over four innings of work. He surrendered two runs (one earned) on two hits and walked one batter. Bohorquez topped out at 97.5 mph and got 13 swinging strikes, nine of them with his fastball. COMPLEX CHRONICLES FCL Twins 8, FCL Red Sox 6 Box Score The middle infield duo of Daiber De Los Santos and Ramiro Dominguez carried the Twins in this one. They each had a pair of hits and drove in three runs. De Los Santos, who collected two doubles, also stole his 10th base of the season. Erasmo Ramírez made his Twins system debut, pitching a perfect first inning with a strikeout. He was signed to a minor league deal in mid-February and is working his way back from a torn shoulder. DOMINICAN DAILIES DSL Rangers Blue 9, DSL Twins 4 Box Score It’s been a tough go for the DSL Twins, but Santiago Castellanos has been a bright spot. The 16-year-old right-hander gave up a couple runs over four innings, seeing his ERA balloon to 1.86. There are much older and more developed pitchers in the system not completing four innings on a regular basis, so this is a great sign for the young product of Venezuela. Another bright spot for the Twins today was Yovanny Duran. He reached safely three times and stole three bases. Jose Barrios hit his first professional home run. Yes, the Twins really have a guy in the system named Jose Barrios. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day: Adrian Bohorquez, Fort Myers (4 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K) Hitter of the Day: Yasser Mercedes, Fort Myers (2-for-5, 2 RBI, SB, walk-off single) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for more. 1. Walker Jenkins (Wichita): 1-for-3, 2 BB, R, K, 2 SB (4) 9. Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids): 0-for-4, R, 3 K 13. Billy Amick (rehabbing with Fort Myers): 1-for-5, 2B, K 14. Gabriel Gonzalez (Wichita): 3-for-5, 2B, 2 R, RBI, SB (4) 15. C.J. Culpepper (Wichita): 3 2/3 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 K 16. Eduardo Beltre (FCL): 1-for-4, BB, R 18. Yasser Mercedes (Fort Myers): 2-for-5, 2 RBI, SB (16), walk-off single 19. Carson McCusker (St. Paul): 1-for-5, HR (14), R, 2 RBI, K 20. Ricardo Olivar (Wichita): 0-for-5, 2 K TOMORROW’S PROBABLE STARTERS St. Paul vs. Toledo, 6:37 pm CT: Cory Lewis Wichita at Arkansas, 6:05 pm CT: TBD Cedar Rapids at Beloit, 6:35 pm CT: Jose Olivares Fort Myers vs. Lakeland, 5:05 pm CT: Dasan Hill FCL Twins vs FCL Red Sox, 9 am CT: TBD DSL Twins vs. DSL Colorado, 9 am CT: TBD View full article

Walker JenkinsEmmanuel RodriguezLuke KeaschallCharlee SotoKaelen CulpepperDasan HillAndrew MorrisConnor PrielippMarco RayaBrandon WinokurKyle DeBargeCJ CulpepperEduardo BeltreGabriel GonzalezDanny De AndradeRicardo OlivarCory LewisRayne DonconBilly AmickKala'i Rosario

Walker JenkinsEmmanuel RodriguezLuke KeaschallCharlee SotoKaelen CulpepperDasan HillAndrew MorrisConnor PrielippMarco RayaBrandon WinokurKyle DeBargeCJ CulpepperEduardo BeltreGabriel GonzalezDanny De AndradeRicardo OlivarCory LewisRayne DonconBilly AmickKala'i Rosario

CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 36-33 St. Paul Saints: 31-34 Wichita Wind Surge: 32-29 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 36-25 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 27-33 FCL Twins: 18-11 DSL Twins: 2-7 TRANSACTIONS Aaron Sabato was promoted to St. Paul. This is the first time the Twins first-rounder from 2020 has reached Triple-A. Sabato has played 224 career Double-A games and has a .305/.399/.574 batting line (.973 OPS) with Wichita this season. Michael Tonkin, who had been on a rehab assignment, cleared outright waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A. This means he’ll remain with St. Paul, but he’s no longer occupying a 40-man roster spot and the Twins can elect not to add him to the active roster at the end of his rehab assignment. Maddux Houghton was assigned to Cedar Rapids from St. Paul. Houghton has played eight games for the Saints over the past two seasons, but this will be his first time as a Kernel. RHP Alex Speas was released. In his last eight outings for the Saints, Speas had surrendered 19 earned runs with 14 walks in 7 2/3 innings pitched. Cedar Rapids placed Rayne Doncon (quad strain) and Jay Thomason (big toe sprain) on the 7-day IL. SAINTS SENTINEL Indianapolis 7, St. Paul 6 (11 innings) Box Score Trent Baker, who the Twins acquired from the Cardinals in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 Draft, made his Triple-A debut tonight. It went … uh, well, he’ll look to bounce back in his next outing. The 26-year-old right-hander couldn’t get out of the first inning. Baker gave up three runs, walked a pair of batters and threw 40 pitches while recording two outs. The Saints fought back from that slow start and traded leads with Indianapolis in the middle innings before the game was tied up in the bottom of the sixth. The score remained tied entering the bottom of the ninth inning. Kody Funderburk, working his second inning, walked the leadoff man on four pitches. He would eventually steal second and advance to third on a single. With the game-winning run on third base and one out, Funderburk picked up a massive strikeout. He got the hitter looking on a 95 mph sinker, thanks to an assist from catcher Noah Cardenas, who challenged the call after it was originally called a ball. Funderburk completed the impressive escape by also striking out the next batter to send the game into extra innings. The Saints couldn’t manage to score in the top of the 10th despite getting a runner to third base with no outs, but St. Paul reliever Anthony Misiewicz blew Indianapolis away in the bottom half of the inning, striking out the side to keep the score knotted at 6-6. Unfortunately, the Saints once again couldn’t plate the bonus runner in the top of the 11th. Misiewicz’s magic ran out, and Indianapolis finally managed to scratch across a run on a single that got by shortstop Tanner Schobel, who was playing in with a runner on third. The Saints lineup went 2-for-16 with runners in scoring position and struck out 13 times. Oof. Aaron Sabato was 1-for-5 with a run and a strikeout in his Triple-A debut. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 9, Corpus Christi 3 Box Score Ricky Castro made a statement tonight. Wichita’s starting pitcher, Castro entered tonight with a 6.31 ERA over his first 35 2/3 innings in Double A. He turned in an outstanding performance, delivering six shutout innings while striking out eight batters. This was the first time Castro has recorded outs in the sixth inning and he’d previously topped out at five strikeouts. The Twins signed Castro out of the independent Frontier League early last season. He looked like an intriguing pickup, pitching to a 3.90 ERA and 1.16 WHIP while striking out 70 batters in 62 1/3 innings after signing with the Twins. The jump up to Double A has proved to be challenging, but perhaps tonight is a turning point. Castro put an exclamation point on his night by striking out the side in order in his final frame. He needed only 73 pitches to complete six innings, throwing 53 of them for strikes (72.6%). Kala’i Rosario provided Castro with a generous amount of run support, as he hit a grand slam in the third inning. Rosario also stole two bases tonight, giving him 14 on the season. This is a new skill he’s showing in 2025, as Rosario had only swiped 16 bases in 348 career games coming into this season. Gabriel Gonzalez was 3-for-3 and drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. Nate Baez, in his second game with Wichita, was 3-for-4 with a homer that was gifted to him. How’s that possible? He launched a ball into left the outfielder lost sight of and then didn’t even immediately locate after it had landed. To his credit, Baez was busting it around the bases and scored before the ball even made it to the relay man. KERNELS NUGGETS Kernels 6, Peoria 2 Box Score The Kernels lineup was consistently producing tonight. Kaelen Culpepper hit an RBI single in the third inning, Jaime Ferrer added a sac fly in the fourth and another run scratched across in the sixth thanks to a Poncho Ruiz single. Danny De Andrade supplied the knockout blow, hitting a three-run homer in the seventh inning to put Cedar Rapids up 6-0. Alejandro Hidalgo, who missed all last season due to injury, looks like he’s hitting his stride. He pitched four shutout innings tonight and stuck out four batters. In three starts this month, Hidalgo has a 2.08 ERA, 0.85 WHIP, 18 strikeouts and three walks in 13 innings pitched. With the first half winding down, Cedar Rapids remains tied for first place in the Midwest League West division with Quad Cities, who also won tonight. Those two teams are also tied for the second-best records in the league at 36-25. MUSSEL MATTERS Game 1: Dunedin 3, Fort Myers 2 Box Score This was the continuation of a suspended game from yesterday that didn’t even get out of the first inning. As a result, Adrian Bohorquez took over for Jason Doktorzyk on the mound when the game picked back up today. He allowed both the runners he inherited to score and struggled with command, walking three batters in 2 1/3 innings. That was all the offense the Blue Jays needed. Yohander Martinez hit his second homer of the year. The recently-promoted Bryan Acuña was 0-for-3 but drove in the other Mussels run on an RBI groundout. Byron Chourio and Walker Jenkins, who are both rehabbing with Fort Myers, each picked up a single. Matt Gabbert pitched two perfect innings of relief while striking out three batters. Game 2: Dunedin 1, Fort Myers 0 Box Score Tough day for the lineup. The Mussels could only muster two hits in the night cap, singles from Miguel Briceno and Blaze O’Saben. On a positive note, Fort Myers starter Michael Ross had an excellent start. The Twins 18th-round pick in last year’s draft, Ross limited the Blue Jays to one run over five innings, lowering his ERA on the season to 3.41. He struck out five batters and did not issue a walk. Ross topped out at 94.3 mph with his sinker and got five of his 10 swinging strikes on his changeup. Neither Chourio nor Jenkins played in this one. COMPLEX CHRONICLES FCL Twins 2, FCL Red Sox 1 Box Score The FCL Twins pitching staff had little room for error today. Luckily, they were up to the task. Teague Conrad limited the Red Sox to jone run on four hits and a pair of walks. He only struck out one batter, but when you only give up one run it’s tough to find an issue with that. The bullpen trio of Xavier Kolhosser, Eider Machuca and Brent Francisco combined to yield just a pair of hits over the final four frames. Machuca covered two innings while the other two pitched an inning each. Despite that excellent pitching performance, the Twins entered the bottom of the ninth inning trailing 1-0. The bats got a little something going, but they mostly took advantage of mistakes. Daiber De Los Santos hit a one-out double and advanced to third on a Luis Fragoza single that deflected off the pitcher and forced him to leave the game due to injury. His replacement was a disaster. The new Red Sox pitcher hit the first batter he faced, Ricardo Paez. Then a wild pitch allowed De Los Santos to score the game-tying run. Fragoza scampered home on another wild pitch, giving the Twins a walk-off victory. Yasser Mercedes, who is with the FCL Twins on a rehab assignment, was 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout. DSL Twins 13, DSL Phillies White 3 Box Score It’s been a slow start for the DSL Twins, who are 2-7 on the season, but they busted out in this one. Carlos Taveras and Darwin Almanzar provided the lineup with some pop. Taveras hit his first two professional home runs, drove in four runs and scored three. Almanzar also homered and hit a double. Haritzon Castill chipped in a three-hit game, and was a home run shy of the cycle. On the mound, Santiago Castellanos covered innings two through four and was excellent. He held the Phillies scoreless while striking out five of the 12 batters he faced. Castellanos surrendered three hits and did not walk a batter. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day: Ricky Castro, Wichita (6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 8 K) Hitter of the Day: Carlos Taveras, DSL Twins (2-for-3, 2 HR, BB, 3 R, 4 RBI) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for more. 1. Walker Jenkins (on rehab assignment with Fort Myers): 1-for-2, HBP, K 6. Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids): 2-for-5, R, RBI 9. Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids): 0-for-3, BB, R, SB (14), 2 K 11. Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-5, R, K 14. Gabriel Gonzalez (Wichita): 3-for-3, 2B, R, RBI 16. Eduardo Beltre (FCL): 0-for-4 17. Tanner Schobel (St. Paul): 0-for-3, BB, HBP, 2 R, K 18. Yasser Mercedes (on rehab assignment with the FCL Twins): 0-for-3, BB, K 19. Carson McCusker (St. Paul): 1-for-5, K TOMORROW’S PROBABLE STARTERS St. Paul at Indianapolis, 6:05 pm CT: Darren McCaughan Wichita vs. Corpus Christi, 6:05 pm CT: TBD Cedar Rapids vs. Peoria, 6:35 pm CT: Tanner Hall Fort Myers at Dunedin, 5:30 pm CT: Dasan Hill FCL Twins at FCL Red Sox, 9 am CT: TBD DSL Twins vs. DSL Miami, 9 am CT: TBD View full article

Twin Case You Missed It: The Minnesota Twins dealt away struggling reliever Jorge Alcala. He’s headed to Boston with High-A prospect Andy Lugo coming back to the Twins. Lugo hasn’t been the subject of much prospect love thus far in his career, but he did make some waves by doing one of the craziest bat flips ever on a walk-off single in the 12th inning of a game he had earlier slugged a game-tying homer. Here’s a video with some highlights and analysis on Lugo plus discussion on Alcala’s tenure with the Twins. View full video