Twins Minor League Talk

Will Holland's speed and power put him in Wind Surge history on Sunday afternoon. Get the latest updates and scores from Sunday's endeavors across the farm! TRANSACTIONS No transactions on Sunday within the organization! SAINTS SENTINEL Columbus 5, St. Paul 3 (10) Box Score Extra innings, man. Per Saints broadcaster and Vice President Sean Aronson, St. Paul has played more extra-inning games than any professional baseball team in their 2022 campaign. In their 17th extra-inning game of the season, the Saints dropped a 5-3 contest to Columbus on Sunday afternoon. St. Paul scored their runs on a pair of solo homers from Mark Co…

With the Florida Complex League action being rained out today, the only affiliate in action was the Minnesota Twins Dominican Summer League team. Ronald Acuna Jr.’s brother got in on the action, and there were more notable performances from the plate than the mound. COMPLEX CHRONICLES Postponed (Rain) The Twins Florida Complex League team was set to square off against the Braves but inclement weather washed away this contest. It will be made up tomorrow. Randy Dobnak was scheduled to make a rehab appearance. Maybe it happens tomorrow. DOMINICAN DAILIES DSL Nationals 12, DSL Twins 8 Box Score Oscar Paredes got the start for the DSL …

It's not every day that one seriously debates whether a player who went 4-4 with a walk was deserving of the hitter of the day award, but today was that kind of day. Read all about that and more in this edition of the minor league report. TRANSACTIONS LHP Samuel Perez promoted to Cedar Rapids RHP Tomas Cleto promoted to Fort Myers Saints Sentinel St. Paul 6, Columbus 5 Box Score Devin Smeltzer: 4 ⅓ IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 1 K HR: Matt Wallner (3), John Andreoli (11) Multi-hit games: Matt Wallner (2-for-3, HR, 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI, BB) The Saints escaped by a slim margin on Saturday. On a day when the team retired Kevin Millar’s #15 jersey, Matt …

A graduate of North St. Paul High School, and Concordia University in St. Paul, Louie Varland made his first Triple-A start for his hometown S.t Paul Saints. Plus wins by Wichita and Cedar Rapids and a big night for the Twins 10th round pick. TRANSACTIONS 2B Jorel Ortega placed on the 7-Day IL (wrist). SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 5, Columbus 1 Box Score St. Paul native Louie Varland dominated during his Triple-A debut in front of the home crowd. Varland—Twins Daily’s number 12 Twins prospect—struck out eight and allowed only three Clipper batters to reach base across 5 ⅓ innings, marking arguably his best start of the season. While …

The Wichita Wind Surge blasted two key homers in a win while much of the system lost Thursday. Let's get you caught up. TRANSACTIONS - 1B Aaron Sabato promoted to Double-A Wichita - SS Will Holland promoted to Double-A Wichita - C Chris Williams promoted to Triple-A St. Paul - 3B Andrew Bechtold promoted to Triple-A St. Paul And in the "Rest of the 2022 Draft Picks Got Assigned" portion of the Transactions: - RHP Kyle Jones assigned to FCL Twins. - RHP Zebby Matthews assigned to FCL Twins. - SS Ben Ross assigned to FCL Twins. - C Andrew Cossetti assigned to FCL Twins. - RHP Cory Lewis assigned to FCL Twins. - RHP Andrew Morris assigned to F…

First Round Pick Brooks Lee made his High-A debut and collected his first High-A hit. Second Rounder Tanner Schobel collected two hits for Low-A Fort Myers. Ronny Henriquez dominated in relief. Read about all of this and more in Wednesday’s Minor League Report! Let’s see what happened this Wednesday in the Twins organization. TRANSACTIONS The Twins signed RHP Ricky Mineo to a minor league contract The Twins signed RHP Jack Noble to a minor league contract The Twins signed SS Omari Daniel to a minor league contract The Twins signed LHP Jacob Edwards to a minor league contract The Twins signed RHP John Klein to a minor league cont…

It was a big night in the Midwest League for the players of the Cedar Rapids Kernels, as they got the opportunity to play on the “Field of Dreams” in Iowa, made famous by a movie that came out well before any of them were ever born. Besides that spectacle, there was a career best outing from a starting pitcher, and a three-hit night that brought one prospect’s average to nearly .300 on the season, complimenting his well-over .400 on-base-percentage that is begging for a promotion. TRANSACTIONS In Triple-A, RHP Ben Heller was transferred to the Development List. Wichita released C/1B Dennis Ortega. 2022 2nd round draft pick SS Tanner Schobel, and…

The St. Paul Saints will get a fresh face this week when 2021 Minor League Pitcher of the Year Louie Varland makes his Triple-A debut. The news broke this afternoon on Twitter. In FCL action, 2022 first-round pick Brooks Lee again shined bright, and fellow draftees Tanner Schobel and Jorel Ortega followed him in the lineup. TRANSACTIONS RHP Louie Varland is being promoted to Triple-A St. Paul per myself and Darren Wolfson INF Brooks Lee is being promoted to Single-A Cedar Rapids per Darren Wolfson COMPLEX CHRONICLES FCL Pirates 11, FCL Twins 6 Box Score Develson Aria drew the start today for the Twins and unfortunately it was a mu…

Tonight at 6:00 on MLB Network, the Cedar Rapids Kernels will be taking on Quad Cities. Why MLB Network? The game is being played at the Field of Dreams movie site. Last summer was the first MLB game at the Field of Dreams field in the corn fields of Dyersville, IA. Later this week, this year's MLB game will be played (I believe Reds/Cubs). But to prepare for it, they are playing a minor league game there. It's cool that MLB Network is airing it. I think it's pretty exciting and absolutely will be watching!

The draft finished up almost three weeks ago. The signing deadline was last week. All the signed draft picks have reported. So where are they and how are they doing? 1st round pick Brooks Lee has played four games for the FCL Twins and despite starting slow has a .353/.353/.471 (.824) slash line thanks to an impressive game on Monday. Lee has played in the field exclusively at shortstop, starting three games there with his other appearance at DH. There had been rumblings that Lee wouldn't be playing in the Florida Complex League too much longer and those rumblings were confirmed by Darren Wolfson on Monday afternoon. It will be interesting to …

Three Twins draft picks have made their professional debuts. One is already being promoted to Cedar Rapids. Who are they? How are they doing? View full video

A 2022 draft pick made his professional debut, a few hitters broke out, and Blayne Enlow had one of his best outings of the season. Read all about that and more in this edition of the minor league report. TRANSACTIONS OF Mark Contreras optioned to St. Paul Saints Sentinel St. Paul 5, Omaha 0 Box Score Ariel Jurado: 4 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K HR: John Andreoli (9), Jermaine Palacios 2 (11, 12), Braden Bishop (1) Multi-hit games: Michael Helman (2-for-5, 2B, R), Jermaine Palacios (2-for-5, 2 HR, 2 R, 3 RBI) St. Paul smothered their opponent on Saturday. Ariel Jurado earned the nod for the start on Saturday and was effective, if not sporad…

Which significant minor leaguers will be Rule 5 eligible this year and will need to be added to the 40 man roster? We currently have 49 on the 40 man with the DFA of Duffey. 10 are on the 60 day IL. We know the following will be off the roster at year’s end: Sano, Sanchez (FA), Leon (FA), Fullmer (FA), Beckham (FA), and Cave is an easy cut. That brings us to 43. Still need to cut more to get under 40, the question is how many more openings we need to create.

The Saints, Kernels, and Rookie Ball teams combined to score 32 runs Friday night. The Wind Surge only scored one, but that was all they needed. TRANSACTIONS RHP Cole Sands promoted from Triple-A St. Paul to Minnesota Twins RHP Aaron Sanchez cleared waivers and accepted his assignment to St. Paul RHP Jharel Cotton cleared waivers and accepted his assignment to St. Paul SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 15, Omaha 6 Box Score The Saints bat’s exploded for 15 runs and 17 runs Friday night to win their 50th game of the season. Six St. Paul batters contributed multiple hits, led by Jermaine Palacios’ four in five at-bats; he hit two…

It was a mixed bag for the Twins’ system Thursday. There was some good, some bad, and some in-between. Let’s get you caught up. SAINTS SENTINEL Saints 3, Storm Chasers 9 Box Score The Saints had trouble offensively in Thursday’s loss to the Storm Chasers. They struck out 15 times and recorded seven hits, two of which came from the new Saint Nash Knight. Elliott Soto homered in the fifth, his fifth of the season. Caleb Hamilton also went deep in the eighth, his 11th long-ball of the year. Jordan Balazovic started and gave up five runs on six hits in three innings. Balazovic walked two and struck out four. His ERA is 10.75 in 37 ⅔ innings for th…

There was a myriad of rock-solid starting pitching performances through the month of July across the Twins' farm system. That couldn't be more timely as we enter the dog days of the minor league calendar. Through all the strikeouts, groundouts, and shutouts, here's who we've selected as our Starting Pitchers of the Month. Previous Minor League Starting Pitchers of the Month June Minor League Starting Pitcher of the Month: Aaron Rozek May Minor League Starting Pitcher of the Month: Steve Hajjar April Minor League Starting Pitcher of the Month: John Stankiewicz Honorable Mention III - Kody Funderburk (Double-A Wichita Wind Surge) The definition of s…

The Saints won on a wild comeback thanks to Mikey Perez. Seth Gray and Jermaine Palacios each had huge days. Jaylen Nowlin continued to strike out the world. Read about all of this and more in Wednesday’s minor league report! Let’s see what happened this Wednesday in the Twins organization. TRANSACTIONS The Twins designated RHP Joe Smith for assignment The Twins activated C Sandy Leon The Twins activated LHP Caleb Thielbar from the 15-day IL The Twins optioned C Caleb Hamilton to AAA St. Paul SAINTS (AAA) St. Paul 9, Omaha 7 Box Score The Saints won in a thrilling, come-from-behind victory ov…

In July, Twins fans watched Byron Buxton and Luis Arraez get elected to the All-Star team, Spencer Steer and Matt Wallner’s representation at the All-Star Futures Game, and too many bad outings by Twins relievers, and starters. However, the minor-league hitters did not disappoint as they continued to dazzle fans with brilliant offensive performances across the organization. Here are the top performers of the month. Previous Hitters of the Month: April: Christian Encarnacion-Strand May: Spencer Steer June: Matt Wallner July: Keep Reading Honorable Mention III: Miguel Sanó; St. Paul Saints & FCL Twins Yes, that Miguel Sano. The one you know and per…

It was the MLB trade deadline on Tuesday, and the Minnesota Twins were one of the most aggressive buyers throughout the day. They acquired three MLB pitchers and a depth catcher, and in doing so parted with the #6, #10, #16, #19, and #20 prospects in their system per our own rankings—which will be receiving an update with a lot of changes tomorrow—as well as several other minor leaguers. TRANSACTIONS By acquiring MLB talent and giving up nothing but prospects, there was a lot to follow when it comes to transactions in the minors. Try to keep up… Trade #1: Twins acquire RHP Jorge Lopez from the Baltimore Orioles, sending off Cedar Rapids’ LHP Cade Povich (#…

Starters and hitters often get the glory, but there’s been plenty of solid relief performances on the farm over the past month as well. Given a constant need for pitching help, any of these performances could translate to future opportunity. Honorable Mention Wladimir Pinto (St. Paul Saints) 6 G, 8.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 6 K, 0.00 ERA, 0.88 WHIP Drew Strotman (St. Paul Saints) 6 G, 6.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 7 K, 1.35 ERA, 1.20 WHIP Andrew Cabezas (Wichita) 8 G, 10.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 4 BB, 9 K, 0.87 ERA, 0.79 WHIP Jackson Hicks (Fort Myers) 8 G, 11.1 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 4 BB, 14 K, 1.59 ERA, 0.90 WHIP Number Three: Matt Mullenbach (Cedar Rapids) 6…

Just the short-season affiliates were in action today, but only one of them was able to make the contest much of a game. The Dominican Summer League team played something like a football game, and the score leaves plenty to be desired. TRANSACTIONS RHP Aaron Sanchez contract selected by Minnesota Twins from Triple-A St. Paul OF Mark Contreras recalled from Triple-A St. Paul RHP Yennier Cano optioned to Triple-A St. Paul C Jose Godoy DFA'd by Minnesota Twins COMPLEX CHRONICLES FCL Twins 11, FCL Orioles 7 Box Score Former New York Yankees pitcher Ben Heller continues to build back up in the minors. Having not pitc…

James Anderson of Rotowire released his top 400 prospects which features three twins in the top-100. Who were the biggest risers and fallers? Where did the new draft picks come in on the list? View full video

Offense was on display across the Twins' minor league organization on Sunday, leading to wins for all four teams that played. Read all about Jermaine Palacios' walk-off, Aaron Sabato's monster day, Carlos Aguiar's near-cycle, and much more! TRANSACTIONS Minnesota Twins sent LHP Caleb Thielbar on a rehab assignment to St. Paul Saints. SAINTS SENTINAL St. Paul 8, Iowa 4 (10 innings) Box Score Ice in his veins. Knotted at four with two outs and the bases loaded in the 10th inning, "Big Game" Jermaine Palacios broke on the draw. On the first pitch of his at-bat, Palacios launched a ball over the left-center field wall and onto the outfield…

The Minnesota Twins selected Matt Wallner in the 1st round of the 2019 Major League Baseball draft. In 2022, he began the year playing at Double-A Wichita. Now up with Triple-A St. Paul, the Forest Lake, MN native is settling in. After getting off to a bit of a slow start this season, Matt Wallner turned on the jets for the Wind Surge. Prior to his promotion he played in 78 games and posted a ridiculous .299/.436/.597 slash line with 21 homers. Just before appearing as a representative for the Twins in the All Star Futures Game, Wallner was promoted to St. Paul. Still finding his footing at the Triple-A level, Wallner is looking for his first extra-base …

17 signings. 17 bonuses included. That leaves three players unsigned. Keep reading to learn all you need to know about this year's draft class. You can go more in-depth on any specific player in the Twins Daily Draft Tracker. I'll give you the class overview here. All of the Top 10 round selections and seven of the Day 3 selections are signed, sealed and delivered. We'll keep you updated at Twins Daily as they all embark soon on their professional careers. Only Brooks Lee (first round) and Connor Prielipp (second round) came in over slot. Surprisingly enough, Lee's bonus was more over slot than Prielipp's. Both figure to enter the Twins Top 10 pro…

The Twins received some outstanding hitting performances in the minors, Edouard Julien and Christian Encarnacion-Strand teamed up to do major damage, and Cole Sands overpowered his opponents. Read all about that and more in this edition of the minor league report. TRANSACTIONS OF Kennie Taylor placed on 7-day IL INF Tim Beckham contract selected by Minnesota OF Mark Contreras recalled by Minnesota Saints Sentinel St. Paul 7, Iowa 1 Box Score Cole Sands: 5 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K HR: None Multi-hit games: Braden Bishop (2-for-4, 3B, 2 RBI) St. Paul smoked Iowa on Saturday. Cole Sands did the darn thing, pitching five quality innings…

Yesterday Aaron Gleeman published a new overview of Twins top 20 prospects after this year's draft. Having 4 SS and 0 C on that list caught my attention. Here's the breakdown by position depth: C - 0 IF - 7* OF - 3* RHP - 8 LHP - 3 * Austin Martin is listed both as IF & OF https://theathletic.com/3434545/2022/07/25/twins-top-prospects-rankings-list/

Despite a couple of strong performances from key contributors, it was a tough night of the farm for Minnesota Twins affiliates. Jermaine Palacios blasted a couple of dingers and Louie Varland was good on the bump, but plenty more was left to be desired across the board. TRANSACTIONS RHP Brad Peacock signed by Minnesota Twins and assigned to Triple-A St. Paul RHP Jake Petricka released by Minnesota Twins RHP Wladimir Pinto released by Minnesota Twins OF Gilberto Celestino recalled by Minnesota Twins SAINTS SENTINEL Iowa 5, St. Paul 4 (F/10) Box Score The Saints went with former top prospect Jordan Balazovic tonight. As has …

Tim Beckham walked it off for the Saints and the Kernels just kept winning in Thursday's Minor League action! TRANSACTIONS Cedar Rapids Kernels place RHP John Stankiewicz on 7-day IL RHP Travis Adams promoted to Cedar Rapids Kernels SAINTS SENTINEL Saints 5, Cubs 4 Box Score Tim Beckham continues to crush Triple-A pitching, walking off the Iowa Cubs Thursday night. Beckham, now hitting .416 with a 1.070 OPS for the Saints, singled home Spencer Steer on a grounder up the middle to ice the game. The Saints trailed all night despite a José Godoy homer and a one-run rally in the sixth. Brandon Bishop's RBI groundout pulled the Saints withi…