Tom Froemming

Image courtesy of Ed Bailey (photo of Kala'i Rosario) CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 19-20 St. Paul Saints: 18-15 Wichita Wind Surge: 17-14 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 19-11 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 15-16 FCL Twins: 4-1 TRANSACTIONS Wichita RHP C.J. Culpepper was transferred from the 7-day IL to the 60-day IL. The same can be said for Kernels LHP Rafael Marcano. Cedar Rapids sent RHP Matt Gabbert on rehab assignment to the FCL Twins. SAINTS SENTINEL Buffalo 17, St. Paul 3 Box Score Marco Raya had a nightmare start. Unfortunately, that was a trend across the system this evening. The top of the first inning in St. Paul started with a single, another single, a three-run homer, a single, a single, an RBI single and a walk. The first Buffalo batter retired was their No. 8 hitter. Raya gave up six runs on seven hits and a walk in his only inning of work and has a 12.46 ERA in 13 innings so far this year. The Saints bullpen wasn’t able to do much better. Buffalo had already scored 12 runs by the fourth inning. Mickey Gasper, last night’s hero, played his eighth game for the Saints and hit his fifth home run. He had a four-hit night and boasts a 1.625 OPS in his brief time with St. Paul. Emmanuel Rodriguez hit his first homer of the year, a sky high opposite field blast. Jose Miranda returned to action and went 0-for-3 with a strikeout. He played third base for seven innings. Eduardo Julien was 0-for-3 with an RBI and a strikeout. Carson McCusker was 1-for-4 with two strikeouts. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 5, Northwest Arkansas 3 Box Score This game was a shutout on both sides until the bottom of the sixth inning. Wind Surge starter Aaron Rozek was cruising until Jac Caglianone, the No. 34 overall prospect per Baseball America, blasted a three-run homer. It felt like that homer may have been a fatal blow, but the Wind Surge lineup had a couple haymakers of their own to deliver. Tanner Schobel lined a double to leadoff the seventh inning, but the next two batters were retired. Just when it felt like the Naturals might escape, Kala’l Rosario crushed an opposite-field two-run homer. Wichita kept the two-out rally rolling. Ben Ross singled, Aaron Sabato drew a walk and Andrew Cossetti socked a three-run homer to complete the comeback and put the Wind Surge up 5-3. Rozek had a quality start and managed to stick around long enough to earn the win. He struck out four batters over six innings and did not issue a walk. Rickey Castro delivered a pair of scoreless innings out of the bullpen while striking out three batters. Jaylen Nowlin finished things off with a scoreless ninth inning to earn his first career save. KERNELS NUGGETS Beloit 8, Cedar Rapids 4 Box Score It was a rough start for Jose Olivares. He’d been pitching so great so far this season, but couldn’t get out of the first inning tonight. The most polished silver lining you’ve ever seen: Both of his outs were recorded via strikeout. Olivares faced eight batters. He walked two, hit one and threw two wild pitches. Giving up five earned runs skyrocketed his ERA on the season from 0.66 to 3.77. The Kernels lineup went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and combined to strike out 13 times. Caden Kendle, Gabriel Gonzalez and Jose Salas all had multi-hit games. Kendle slugged his second home run of the season and stole a base. MUSSEL MATTERS Dunedin 9, Fort Myers 1 Box Score It was also a rough start for Michael Carpenter. In fact, I could basically copy/paste everything I wrote about Olivares’ start for the Kernels. Carpenter, a lefty out of Madison Community College, only recorded two outs. Jacob Kisting, who was born in Madison, stabilized the game as the first man out of the Mussels bullpen. He delivered 4 1/3 innings of two-run ball and struck out four batters. Dameury Pena was 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI. The only other Fort Myers hit came from Yohander Martinez. COMPLEX CHRONICLES FCL Twins 2, FCL Red Sox 0 Box Score Three FCL Twins pitchers combined for the seven-inning shutout, with Matt Gabbert throwing two perfect innings to get things started, Hendry Chivilli covered the next two innings and St. Louis Park native Mitch Mueller finishing off the final three frames. Chivilli was among the centerpieces of the Twins 2023 international signing class … as a shortstop. He was ranked as the No. 38 prospect of that class by MLB Pipeline. He hit .194/.301/.282 (.583 OPS) with a 33.2 K% in 256 plate appearances over the past two seasons, so they’re trying something different. The Twins scored their runs on an error and a balk. Complex baseball, ladies and gentlemen! TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day: Aaron Rozek, Wichita (6 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 0 BB, 4 K, 74 pitches, 49 strikes) Hitter of the Day: Mickey Gasper, St. Paul (4-for-5, HR, 2B, R, RBI) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for more. 3. Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul): 2-for-4, HR (1), R, RBI, K 6. Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-5, RBI, 2 K 7. Marco Raya (St. Paul): 1 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 1 BB, 0 K, 35 pitches 9. Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-5, 2B, 2 K 14. Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids): 2-for-5, 2B, K 16. Eduardo Beltre (FCL): 0-for-2, 2 BB, 2 SB (2) 17. Tanner Schobel (Wichita): 1-for-4, 2B, R 18. Yasser Mercedes (Fort Myers): 0-for-2, 2 BB 19. Carson McCusker (St. Paul): 1-for-4, 2 K 20. Ricardo Olivar (Wichita): 1-for-4 TOMORROW’S PROBABLE STARTERS St. Paul vs. Buffalo, 2:07 pm CT: Zebby Matthews Wichita at Northwest Arkansas, 6:35 pm CT: Christian MacLeod Cedar Rapids at Beloit, 1:05 pm CT: Jeremy Lee Fort Myers vs. Dunedin, 5:05 pnm CT: Dasan Hil View full article

The Minnesota Twins finished off a three-game sweep of the Orioles Thursday, winning 5-2. It was the fifth straight win for the Twins, who are now 11-5 in their last 16 games. Down on the farm, Connor Prielipp impressed in his outing for Wichita. Kyle DeBarge had another good game for Cedar Rapids, but it ended with him exiting after being hit on the wrist with a 97 mph fastball. View full video

The Minnesota Twins blew out the Orioles Tuesday at Target Field. Carlos Correa hit an impressive home run in what was a three-hit night for him. Pablo López had an impressive start, striking out 11 batters. Down in the minors, Carson McCusker had a two-homer game for the Saints. View full video

The Minnesota Twins took another one-run victory in Boston, thanks in part to another impressive showing from Jhoan Duran in the bottom of the ninth inning. The Twins won 5-4 to end this week’s road trip with a 3-4 record. Byron Buxton got things started with a leadoff homer. Down in the minors, Kaelen Culpepper hit an impressive home run for Cedar Rapids, Zebby Matthews gave up some damage and Royce Lewis was 1-for-5 for the Saints. View full video

Image courtesy of ©Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images Box Score Bailey Ober: 6 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 94 pitches, 62 strikes (66.0%) Home Runs: Kody Clemens (1) Top 3 WPA: Bailey Ober 0.231, Jhoan Duran 0.215, Kody Clemens 0.207. Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) Kody Clemens didn’t exactly follow in his dad’s footsteps, but he did eventually make it to the same stage. Nearly 41 years after Roger Clemens made his Fenway Park debut, his son Kody was playing his first game there. Instead of being atop the mound like his old man, Kody was in the batter’s box. With proud papa watching from a luxury box, Kody blasted a two-run homer, his first since joining the Twins. It’s easy to have complicated feelings toward Roger Clemens, but as a father, a son, and a Twins fan, I personally felt it was nice to be able to appreciate this moment of pure joy for the Clemens family. Heck, it was nice to simply be able to appreciate some darn runs. The Bomba Squad days are long behind us, as the Twins entered today ranked tied for 25th in home runs. Kody Clemens isn’t going to be the guy to lead the Twins out of this power slump, as he’s only hit 15 home runs in 158 career games, but every little bit helps. Clemens started at second base and also made a nifty catch in shallow centerfield. Simply put, he looked hungry out there. This Twins team could use more of that. That Clemens blast also changed the course of this game, as it broke a 1-1 tie in the top of the sixth inning. The two-run homer was the start of a two-out rally, as Harrison Bader followed with a single, Christian Vázquez walked and Trevor Larnach hit a run-scoring single. With the Twins up 4-1 in the top of the seventh, the threatening skies started to produce and the game went into a rain delay. At least it was conveniently-timed, as Bailey Ober was already at 94 pitches through six innings and was likely to turn the game over to the bullpen anyway. Ober held up his end of the bargain, delivering a quality start. He limited Boston to one run on seven hits and a walk while striking out six batters. Ober has only yielded eight earned runs in 36 innings (2.00 ERA) since his rough season debut in which he gave up eight earned runs in that outing alone. After the delay, Brock Stewart took over on the mound for the Twins and hit the first batter he faced. Jarren Duran later hit a run-scoring triple, then came around to score on a Rafael Devers single to bring Boston within a run. That was it for Stewart, as Griffin Jax came in and stopped the bleeding by coaxing consecutive groundouts. The Twins had a great opportunity to score an insurance run in the top of the eighth inning, but their love of the contact play came back to bite them. Ryan Jeffers led things off with a single and pinch runner DaShawn Keirsey Jr. stole second base. Clemens flew out to deep center field, allowing Keirsey to tag up and advance to third. Harrison Bader hit the first pitch on the ground and right at the third baseman. With the contact play on, Keirsey was heading home. He was out by a mile. Bader stole second base, but Vázquez failed to bring him around, lining out to end the inning. Despite Jax needing just seven pitches to finish off the seventh inning, Cole Sands took over for the Twins in the eighth. Sands struck out the first batter he faced before inducing a weak bouncer up the middle that should have resulted in the second out. Instead, the ball bounced through the infield for a single, splitting Clemens and Carlos Correa. It appeared the two infielders were both under the impression the other was going to take charge and field that ball. Luckily, it didn’t matter. Sands came up huge, coaxing an inning-ending double play with an 88 mph splitter down. The timing and execution both on that pitch by Sands and the around-the-horn twin killing started by Brooks Lee at third base is exactly the kind of thing the Twins have been lacking in these close games so far this season. Byron Buxton got a one-out single in the top of the ninth, but the Twins weren’t able to get any insurance in the top of the ninth. Jhoan Duran came in to try to secure the one-out save in the bottom of the ninth inning and gave up a leadoff single to Boston No. 9 hitter Ceddanne Rafaela. Duran retired the next batter on a ground out, but the speedy Rafaela managed to advance to second. Meat of the Boston order up, man in scoring position and Jhoan Duran channeled prime nasty, attack-mode Jhoan Duran. He went right after Devers, striking him out on four pitches, finishing with a filthy knuckle curve. Rocco Baldelli made the call to intentionally walk the red-hot Alex Bregman with first base open, bringing young and talented left-handed hitter Wilyer Abreu to the plate. Duran remained in attack mode. 101.4 mph fastball fouled off. 100.8 mph fastball fouled off. 100.9 mph fastball out of the zone. 101.8 mph fastball hit for a game-ending flyout to left field. Pfew! A great, much-needed road victory for this Twins team that’s been dreadful in close ballgames. What’s Next? The Twins wrap up their series in Boston Sunday afternoon with a starting pitching matchup of Chris Paddack vs. Garrett Crochet, a lefty. First pitch is scheduled for 12:35 pm CT. The Twins are off Monday before starting a six-game homestand on Tuesday, hosting the Orioles for three before the Giants come to tow for the weekend. Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet TUE WED THU FRI SAT TOT Durán 13 0 24 0 16 53 Stewart 17 21 0 0 13 51 Coulombe 0 16 0 18 0 34 Jax 13 0 14 0 7 34 Sands 0 0 18 0 12 30 Alcalá 0 0 0 23 0 23 Varland 3 0 12 5 0 20 Topa 0 0 12 0 0 12 View full article

Image courtesy of © Jonathan Dyer-Imagn Images CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 13-20 St. Paul Saints: 14-14 Wichita Wind Surge: 15-10 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 15-9 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 14-11 TRANSACTIONS St. Paul placed 3B Armando Alvarez on the 7-day IL with a left ankle sprain and activated SS/CF Will Holland from the IL. Cedar Rapids placed 3B/1B Billy Amick on the 7-day IL with a left oblique strain. The Kernels also transferred LHP Ross Dunn from the 7-day IL to the 60-day IL. He is dealing with a left forearm strain. Fort Myers transferred C Rafael Escalante from the 7-day IL to the 60-day IL. RHP Liam Rocha was transferred from Fort Myers to the FCL Twins. The FCL Twins open play tomorrow, and it appears their roster page on MiLB.com has been updated to accurately reflect this year’s squad. Among the top names on that team are 2024 Twins Daily Short-Season Hitter of the Year Eduardo Beltre and last year’s Short-Season Pitcher of the Year Melvin Rodriguez. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 6, Columbus 4 (6 innings) Box Score The Saints are having the most difficult time simply playing baseball games. They were scheduled to play a doubleheader today and, much like yesterday and Tuesday, could only get in one game — and it was called early! Royce Lewis played third base and went 0-for-4 with a strikeout. On the plus side, he did have two more hard-hit balls with exit velocities of 98.4 mph and 96.4 mph. While we're discussing players coming back from injury, Emmanuel Rodriguez was in the starting lineup for the Saints for the first time since April 23. He went 1-for-2 with a walk as the DH. Jeferson Morales continued his magical spring by delivering the first multi-homer game of his career. He’s hitting .291/.378/.488 (.866 OPS) in 27 games so far this season and .317/.399/.525 (.924 OPS) over his first 44 games at the Triple-A level. Are we witnessing a late-bloom or just a hot streak that carried over from one year to the next? Only time will tell, but never doubt a Sire of Fort Myers. Mike Ford also homered for the Saints, his sixth of the season. The Saints had five hitters with an .800 OPS or higher in their lineup tonight. In addition to Morales (.866 OPS) and Ford (.824), Carson McCusker (1.023), Anthony Prato (.987) and Ryan Fitzgerald (.938) are above that mark. Gee, it’s too bad there’s no room for one of those guys on the big club. Alright, okay, minor league production doesn’t often translate to the big leagues, but the Twins have some bats they could turn to if they’re ever motivated to shake things up. On the pitching side, Marco Raya got the start but struggled despite being provided with some early run support. He walked five of the 16 batters he faced and threw less than 50 percent of his pitches for strikes (30 of 62). After giving up four earned runs in three innings, Raya has a 9.00 ERA through five starts and has yet to record an out in the fourth frame. On the other hand, Travis Adams continued to pitch great for the Saints. He delivered a pair of scoreless frames and has a 2.82 ERA and 1.03 WHIP in 22 1/3 innings for the Saints. Adams has 20 strikeouts and just three walks on the year. The Saints are going to take another crack at playing two tomorrow, but there’s a 99 percent chance of rain in Columbus, so … WIND SURGE WISDOM Frisco 3, Wichita 2 Box Score Connor Prielipp was working out of trouble with the help of his defense through the first 2 2/3 innings tonight but gave up a two-run homer that ended his night there. Prielipp’s first throw of the evening hit a batter but he eventually induced a 4-6-3 double play. In the second inning, any damage was avoided in part because right fielder Kala’i Rosario made a nice on-target throw to retire a runner trying to stretch a single into a double. The first two Frisco batters reached base in the third, but third baseman Tanner Scobel started an around-the-horn triple play attempt. The two lead runners were retired but the batter beat the throw from second. That’s where Frisco No. 3 hitter, lefty Abimelec Ortiz, took Prielipp deep into the lazy river beyond the right field fence (yes, this really is a thing at Riders Field in Frisco, Texas). Prielipp failed to record a strikeout for the first time in his minor league career. Burnsville product Aaron Rozek delivered 4 1/3 innings of one-run ball out of the bullpen. The Wichita lineup had a tough time delivering on opportunities, as they went 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base. Ricardo Olivar was 3-for-5 as the DH tonight and is hitting .354 with a .913 OPS on the season. Ben Ross also had three hits including a double, the only Wind Surge extra-base hit on the night. KERNELS NUGGETS South Bend 8, Cedar Rapids 4 Box Score Tanner Hall did something tonight I’ve never seen a Twins minor leaguer do. Hall threw 38 pitches in the first inning and went back out for the second frame. That’s obviously not an impressive accomplishment in terms of providing quality, but it’s the quantity that’s eye-opening. Previously, anytime a Twins minor leaguer reached 30 pitches in any given inning it was a guarantee his night was done. I was so shocked that Hall came back out for the second inning that I checked in with Seth to see if he ever recalled seeing this. He couldn’t think of a single time in the last 10-15 years where a pitcher had that high of a pitch count in an inning and remained in the game. So while that’s an interesting take away from tonight’s game, it’s not exactly a good reflection upon Hall. I suppose it’s a sign the org believes his arm can handle the stress, but he was alarmingly inefficient tonight, needing 63 pitches to record five outs. Kaelen Culpepper served as the DH tonight, so it was interesting to see who would serve as shortstop on a team with plenty of other candidates. It was Brandon Winokur at shortstop with Kyle DeBarge playing second base and Danny De Andrade at third. Speaking of DeBarge, he hit a home run tonight. After hitting one home run in 26 games after being drafted last year, DeBarge already has four homers in 23 games so far this season. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers 9, Tampa 2 Box Score The Mussels lineup was consistently producing this afternoon, tallying runs in six separate innings. It was a consistent attack, as eight different hitters scored a run and eight also drove in a run. All this was accomplished while providing just three run-scoring hits. One run scored on a ground out, they hit a pair of sacrifice flies, another two runs scored on errors and there was a run-scoring balk. Catcher Daniel Pena led the way with three hits while Jose Salas, Jay Thomason, Maddux Houghton and Yohander Martinez all tallied a pair of hits. Salas has hit .444 with a 1.254 OPS and three stolen bases in seven games on his rehab assignment with the Mussels. He’s played shortstop, center field and right field. Jakob Hall, 2024 eighth-round pick, delivered 4 2/3 innings of one-run ball for Fort Myers, striking out three while not issuing a walk. Ivran Romero picked up the win after surrendering a run over his 2 1/3 innings before Tyler Stasiowski struck out the side in the eighth and ninth innings. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day: Jakob Hall, Fort Myers (4 2/3 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 3 K) Hitter of the Day: Jeferson Morales, St. Paul (2-for-3, 2 HR, 2 R, 3 RBI, K) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for more. 2. Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul): 1-for-2, BB 6. Marco Raya (St. Paul): 3 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 5 BB, 2 K 7. Kaelen Culpepper (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-5, SB (1), R, K 8. Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids): 0-for-4, BB, 2 K 10. Connor Prielipp (Wichita): 2 2/3 IP 5 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 0 K 13. Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-3, HR (4), 2 BB, 1 R, 2 RBI, 15. Yasser Mercedes (Fort Myers): 0-for-4, BB, RBI, K 18. Kala’i Rosario (Wichita): 2-for-4, R 19. Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids): 2-for-5, R, 2 K 20. Ricardo Olivar (Wichita): 3-for-5, K TOMORROW’S PROBABLE STARTERS St. Paul at Columbus, 1:05 pm CT: Darren McCaughan St. Paul at Columbus, Game 2: Zebby Matthews Wichita at Frisco, 7:05 pm CT: Ricky Castro Cedar Rapids vs. South Bend, 6:35 pm CT: Jose Olivares Fort Myers at Tampa, 11 am CT: Dasan Hill FCL Twins at FCL Red Sox, 9 am CT: TBD View full article

The Minnesota Twins lost another frustrating, wet game in Cleveland. I don’t wanna talk about it. Down on the farm, Tanner Schobel and Ricardo Olivar powered the Wind Surge and Cole Peschl had another impressive outing for the Mighty Mussels. There’s highlights of those three plus all the info from across the minors in tonight’s recap. View full video

The Minnesota Twins finished off a sweep of the Angels Sunday behind a dominant performance from Joe Ryan. Carlos Correa’s bat finally came around, as he had a three-hit game to finish off a strong series. From the minor leagues, today’s recap includes some highlights of Jose Olivares, Danny De Andrade and Kaelen Culpepper of the Cedar Rapids Kernels. View full video

The Minnesota Twins were walked off in Cleveland as the lineup had a very quiet night, scoring just one run. The pitching staff held up its end once again, as the game was tied 1-1 entering the bottom of the ninth inning. Kyle Manzardo hit a walk-off homer off Louis Varland to end it. The minor league segment of tonight’s recap includes updates on Adrian Bohorquez, Charlee Soto and Walker Jenkins as well as some defensive highlights from the Cedar Rapids infield of Khadim Diaw, Billy Amick, Kyle DeBarge, Kaelen Culpepper and Danny De Andrade. View full video

Royce Lewis is back … with the Saints. He started a rehab assignment in St. Paul Friday and checked a lot of boxes. He hit, he played the field, he ran the bases and, most importantly, he came out of it unscathed. Image courtesy of Rob Thompson, St. Paul Saints (photo of Royce Lewis) CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 10-16 St. Paul Saints: 10-12 Wichita Wind Surge: 11-8 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 11-7 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 10-9 TRANSACTIONS - Royce Lewis joined St. Paul on a rehab assignment. - The Twins outrighted catcher Diego Cartaya off the 40-man roster, per Dan Hayes of The Athletic. Cartaya is 2-for-25 with 18 strikeouts in 29 plate appearances for the Saints so far this season, so it was a good time to try to pass him through waivers. He’ll remain with St. Paul but is no longer occupying a spot on the 40-man roster. The Twins haven’t made a corresponding move yet. - LHP Aaron Rozek was promoted from Wichita to St. Paul. - IF Dalton Shuffield was transferred to the development list. SAINTS SENTINEL Game 1: Indianapolis 10, St. Paul 0 Box Score Royce Lewis checked all the boxes. He was 1-for-3 at the plate with a double he hit 101.4 mph, so it was great he had the opportunity to run the bases. That he played the field in his first game back was noteworthy in itself, but he didn’t exactly excel defensively tonight. Playing third base, Lewis’ first chance came in the second inning. He had to range into foul territory to grab a ground ball hit 106.7 mph. He unleashed a two-hopper throw across the diamond that first baseman Yunior Severino couldn’t scoop. To add injury to insult, Severino hurt himself on the stretch and had to exit the game. Later in the second inning, Lewis had to come in on a sky-high chopper and whiffed while trying to catch it on the way down. Both those chances for Lewis were scored singles, and while they weren’t routine, you’d expect the average MLB third baseman to make those play. It’s fair to expect Lewis to be a bit rusty, but I don’t think that’s going to help Marco Raya feel any better about it. While Raya was his own worst enemy tonight, he could have used some extra help. He lasted just 1 2/3 innings after throwing only 30 of his 55 pitches for strikes and walking three batters. He gave up seven runs on six hits. Back to Lewis, he made a nice pick and on-the-run throw to record the final out of the fifth inning. He also ended the top of the sixth inning with a 5-1 putout, so it’s not as if he didn’t make any plays in the field. Royce hit his double in the bottom of the sixth and ran the bases, but after that his night was over. He did not play in Game 2 of today’s doubleheader, as was to be expected. Another rehabbing Twin appeared in this game: Michael Tonkin. He surrendered a pair of homers over his 1 1/3 innings. He also gave up two home runs in his first rehab appearance for St. Paul. Tonkin threw 40 pitches — 26 of them for strikes — and topped out at 93.3 mph. That’s closer to what his fastball averaged last year, though velocity is never going to be his calling card. Game 2: St. Paul 3, Indianapolis 0 Box Score The legend of Darren McCaughan continues! He made a great impression in his brief three-game cameo with the Twins earlier this month and continued to impress in his outing for the Saints tonight. McCaughan pitched five innings of shutout, one-hit ball while racking up seven strikeouts and issuing a pair of walks. He’s only given up one unearned run over 12 innings with the Saints this year. The 29-year-old righty only topped out at 91.7 mph, but he got 12 whiffs, including a handful with his four-seam fastball. After getting shutout in the first game, the Saints got on the board early in Game 2. Patrick Winkel crushed a home run in the second inning that had an exit velocity of 107.4 mph. The score remained 1-0 until Carson McCusker drove in a run on a single in the bottom of the sixth inning. Another run came across on a wild pitch to give St. Paul some more insurance. Lefty Anthony Misiewicz completed the seven-inning shutout by covering the final two frames and picking up a pair of strikeouts in the process. He earned his second save of the season. Emmanuel Rodriguez did not play in either game today due to a left thumb strain, per Theodore Tollefson of Zone Coverage. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 2, Springfield 1 Box Score Productive outs were the difference for the Wind Surge tonight. It’s not easy to only get four hits, go 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and still win, but they pulled it off. Kyler Fedko led off the second inning with a double, advanced to third on a fly out and then scored on a ground out to give Wichita a 1-0 lead early. With the score knotted at 1-1 in the seventh, Aaron Sabato drew a leadoff walk, advanced to second on a wild pitch, got to third on a ground out to the first baseman and scored on a sac fly. It was a grind, but that was all the offense the Wichita pitching staff needed. Darren Bowen continued his hot start to the season by delivering five innings of one-run ball. He gave up four hits — all singles — and did not walk a batter. Bowen had three strikeouts and needed just 55 pitches to complete five frames. He has a 1.50 ERA and 0.94 WHIP in 18 innings for the Wind Surge. Pretty impressive for his first impression in Double-A. In his first game back from rehab assignment, Pierson Ohl struck out four batters over three one-hit innings of shutout ball. Joel Cesar protected the one-run lead in the ninth and picked up his second save of the season. KERNELS NUGGETS Wisconsin 1, Cedar Rapids 0 Box Score Alejandro Hidalgo fell off the radar to some degree, as he missed the entire 2024 season recovering from Tommy John surgery. There have been some rough edges to his performance so far upon his return, but he’s also been very tough to hit. Hidalgo only surrendered one hit over five shutout innings for the Kernels tonight. He struck out seven and walked four. He’s struggled with command, but opponents have only hit .164 off him and Hidalgo has struck out 25 batters in 16 innings. The Twins acquired him in November of 2022 in a trade that sent Gio Urshela to the Angels. Hits were incredibly tough to come by in this game for both teams. The only run scored of the entire game was driven in on a double play. Danny De Andrade had the only Cedar Rapids extra-base hit, a double. He also drew a walk in the bottom of the ninth after falling behind 0-2, advanced to second base on an error and stole third, but the Kernels couldn’t bring him around to score. Paulshawn Pasqualotto pitched a scoreless inning for Cedar Rapids. The 2023 12th-round pick hasn’t surrendered a run in 10 innings pitched so far this season. MUSSEL MATTERS Clearwater 4, Fort Myers 3 Box Score The Mussels carried a 3-0 lead into the bottom of the sixth inning in Clearwater tonight, but could not seal the deal. Clearwater ended the shutout that inning, tied it up in the seventh inning and walked it off in the ninth. Things were going good for Fort Myers in the early going largely due to Cole Peschl, who is doing his best to demand some attention. The Twins 15th-round pick out of Campbell University in North Carolina, Peschl delivered five shutout innings while striking out nine batters. He hasn’t given up a run over his first 14 innings of pro ball and has 19 strikeouts. Peschl got 19 whiffs, 12 of them on his slider. Per Statcast, the right-hander threw 26 sliders, 22 cutters, 17 four-seamers, 12 curveballs and three changeups. He topped out at 93.1 mph. Getting hits continued to be a challenge for young Yasser Mercedes, but he managed to draw a pair of walks and was hit by a pitch. He also stole four bases. Four! Mercedes is up to nine steals in 18 games so far this season and he hasn’t been thrown out. Last year, he went 21-for-26 in stolen base attempts over 61 games. Jay Thomason had the only Fort Myers extra-base hit, a double. He hit two balls in excess of 104 mph tonight, and has been consistently taking some of the biggest swings of anybody I’ve seen in the system so far this year. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day: Cole Peschl, Fort Myers (5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 9 K) Hitter of the Day: Patrick Winkel, St. Paul (2-for-5, 2B, HR, R, RBI) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for more. And, you can help us update our Top 20 prospects by ranking your top 20 Twins prospects. Voting has started. Rank now. 3. Luke Keaschall (Twins): 0-for-0, HBP (exited after being hit by a pitch on his right wrist, fractured) 6. Marco Raya (St. Paul): 1 2/3 IP, 6 H, 7 R, 3 BB, 1 K 8. Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-4, SB (5) 15. Yasser Mercedes (Fort Myers): 0-for-2, 2 BB, HBP, 4 SB (9), K 17. Billy Amick (Cedar Rapids): 0-for-4, 2 K 18. Kala’i Rosario (Wichita): 1-for-4, K 19. Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids): 0-for-4 TOMORROW’S PROBABLE STARTERS St. Paul vs. Indianapolis, 2:07 pm CT: LHP Aaron Rozek Wichita vs. Springfield, 4:05 pm CT: LHP Connor Prielipp Cedar Rapids vs. Wisconsin, 1:05 pm CT: RHP Tanner Hall Fort Myers at Clearwater, 5:30 pm CT: LHP Dasan Hill View full article

It was a series between two teams badly struggling to open 2025, and instead of the Minnesota Twins continuing to build momentum it’s been Atlanta who appears to be getting right. Byron Buxton had a great game and the Twins carried a 3-2 lead into the bottom of the sixth inning but could not finish it off. Down on the farm, Pablo López made a rehab start for the Saints, Kyler Fedko already surpassed his 2024 home run total and both Cole Peschl and Jay Thomason impressed for the Mighty Mussels. All that and more in tonight’s System Recap. View full video

Incorrect. You can sign guys to two-year minor league deals, but that's the max. A recent example was Adbert Alozay's two-year minors deal with the Mets.

I know you didn't ask me, and I'd also be curious of what anybody else thinks, but here's my two cents: Yunior looks more lean to my eye this season. Not sure, but that may be part of why he's getting some looks at second base again. In the majors, he'd probably only be a 1B/DH, but it's a bonus he could be an emergency option at 3B/2B/RF if needed. Being a switch hitter who traditionally has very even platoon splits is a nice bonus, too, so he might have a broader set of skills to bring to a bench role. Whether that matters would depend on the team need at any given time. I don't have a clue why McCusker has never had even a look at 1B. There's a lot more to playing there than just being tall, of course, but it's a pretty massive advantage. I have to believe they've at least toyed with the idea of him at first on a backfield or something and it went so poorly they didn't further explore the option. McCusker moves around a lot better than you might imagine for a guy who's 6-foot-8, but I believe he's comfortably below MLB average on defense. Not a complete butcher, but you're giving something up by putting him out there. Keep in mind that the bar is very high. We've seen recent Twins outfields with Bader and Keirsey in the corners, which is just remarkable. Even watching a lot of the minor league games, defensive evaluation is still pretty tough to feel super confident on. You can watch a lot of a team and not see a guy be presented with a difficult play even once. Still, I don't view Severino or McCusker to be an asset anywhere in the field. I don't view either of these guys as anywhere near the level of Matt Wallner. Between the two, McCusker has better raw power, but Yunior has as good of in-game power. I think that they called up Keachall over these two (or the several other options in St. Paul) says a lot about how they feel about them. I know they adore Luke, but this feels like it would have been as good a time as any for some of these other guys to get their shot.