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Minnesota went all-in on Ryan Jeffers being the team’s top catcher for the 2022 season. Will any of these prospects join him at the big-league level in 2023? Image courtesy of Rob Thompson, St. Paul Saints Last winter, the Twins traded from a position of strength (catcher) for a position of need (shortstop). Ryan Jeffers was handed the keys as the team’s top catcher while the team traded Mitch Garver to the Rangers. Jeffers posted an 86 OPS+, but he was limited to 67 games due to a broken thumb. Following the World Series, Gary Sanchez and Sandy Leon will become free agents, so the Twins need someone else to join Jeffers at the big-league level. Could there be an internal option? Triple-A: Andrew Bechtold (ETA: 2023), David Banuelos (ETA: 2023) Bechtold is an intriguing prospect because of his defensive flexibility. During the 2022 season, he played over 390 innings at catcher and third base. Offensively, he hit .233/.329/.400 (.728) with 16 doubles and 19 home runs in 123 games between Double-A and Triple-A. He is Rule 5 eligible, so the Twins will need to add him to the 40-man roster to avoid the risk of losing him. Banuelos is in his fifth professional season and has played 85 games at Triple-A over the last two seasons. Minnesota acquired him in 2017 for $1 million in international bonus pool money. Defense is his calling card, as he has a .653 OPS in 85 Triple-A games. Like Bechtold, he is Rule 5 eligible, so the Twins need to add him to the 40-man roster before December’s draft. Double-A: Alex Isola (ETA: 2024), Kyle Schmidt (ETA: 2024) Minnesota took Isola in the 29th round of the 2019 MLB Draft, and he has consistently risen through the Twins system since then. In 2022, he was limited to 61 games as he split time between first base and catcher. With Wichita, he hit .286/.377/.471 (.848) with nine doubles and ten home runs. Minnesota sent him to the AFL to recoup some of his missing time this season, but he has seen limited catching innings. Schmidt was a 33rd-round pick in 2019, but his college experience helped him move through three levels for the second consecutive season. He caught over 260 innings in 2022 and made 15 starts at first base. In 56 games, he hit .207/.270/.306 (.576) with four doubles and five home runs. He never played more than 30 games at any level, so it will be interesting to see if the Twins let him get comfortable at one level in 2023. High-A: Pat Winkel (ETA: 2025), Andrew Cossetti (ETA: 2025) Even with college experience, Winkel was younger than the average age of the competition at his level for the second consecutive season. In his second professional season, he got on base over 33% of the time and combined for 15 extra-base hits in 54 games. All his defensive appearances came behind the plate, where he caught nearly 390 innings. He posted an .858 OPS in college, so the Twins hope to see more of that hitter in the future. Cossetti is an intriguing name from the 2022 draft class. Minnesota took Cossetti in the 11th round of the 2022 MLB Draft from St. Joseph's University. After signing, he was limited to one appearance with the FCL Twins. It seems likely for him to get plenty of catching time in Cedar Rapids next season because of his college experience. Low-A: Noah Cardenas (ETA: 2025), Dillon Tatum (ETA: 2025), Nate Baez (ETA: 2026), Ricardo Olivar (ETA: 2026) Cardenas made his full-season debut in 2022 after being drafted in 2021. He played in 99 games for Fort Myers, where he hit .261/.421/.413 (.834) with 18 doubles and nine home runs. He walked (73 BB) more than he struck out (70 K), and caught over 460 innings. Throughout his college and professional career, he has shown a keen eye at the plate, which helps him get into favorable counts where his power can be utilized. Tatum spent most of 2022 in Fort Myers but got a brief taste of Double-A due to a catching need late in the season. He hit .177/.321/.300 (.621) with 15 extra-base hits in 74 games. As he moves up, he needs to make regular contact and cut back on his strikeout totals (93 K in 74 games). He is strong defensively behind the plate and caught two no-hitters this season, but there is always room for players of his ilk in an organization. Baez was a 12th-round pick in 2022 and only appeared in 19 games after signing with the Twins. In his final collegiate season, he posted a .965 OPS, so it will be interesting to see if his bat develops in the Twins’ system. Olivar played most of last season with FCL Twins, where he hit .349/.442/.605 (1.046) with 12 doubles, three triples, and five home runs. He can play catcher, second base, and all three outfield positions. His bat is good enough that the team tries to fit him in the line-up as much as possible. Catching depth is something to watch in any organization. The Twins have drafted multiple college catchers in recent years to add to that depth, but only some of those catchers offer a lot of upside. There are some very intriguing bats in the names mentioned above, and many catchers have some defensive flexibility which could prove valuable. However, none of the catching options look ready to fill a full-time role at the big-league level. Will the Twins turn to any of these options in 2023? Leave a COMMENT and start the discussion. View full article

The St. Paul Saints have three of the best hitting prospects for Minnesota at the top of their lineup and each looked the part tonight. Down in Florida, Kyle Schmidt flexed his muscles and pitching was lights out from Steven Hajjar. Transactions: RHP Ben Gross placed on Injured List by Wichita SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 8, Indianapolis 1 Box Score St. Paul gave the ball to Mario Sanchez tonight and he was great. Working six innings, Sanchez allowed just one run on four hits while striking out five and walking none. Even without the offensive explosion, he’d have kept the good guys in it. Getting behind 1-0 on some poor throwing in the 1st inning, St. Paul charged back in the 4th inning. Alex Kirilloff flashed some much-needed power with a two-run homer to right-center that also brought in Royce Lewis. Tonight was Lewis' second game at the hot corner for St. Paul and he quickly saw the opportunity for a web gem. In the 5th inning the Saints continued to add and did so in a big way. First Lewis drove in Derek Fisher with a single. Then Kirilloff singled to right scoring Lewis, and Spencer Steer followed with his first Triple-A home run, a two-run blast plating Kirilloff. The Saints weren’t satisfied with their lead and Jose Godoy drove in a run with Jermaine Palacios scoring on his ground out in the 6th inning before Mark Contreras drove in Kirilloff with a single of his own. Now up by seven runs, St. Paul had seen plenty of production from their 10 hits tonight. Lewis, Kirilloff, and Steer all had multi-hit games tonight for St. Paul. WIND SURGE WISDOM Corpus Christi 9, Wichita 5 Box Score Twins pitching prospect Blayne Enlow was making his third start since returning from Tommy John surgery tonight. It was a rough one as he allowed five runs on five hits in just three innings. Although Enlow struck out three batters, he walked four and his season ERA is up to 7.59. Wichita jumped out to an early lead with Chris Williams launching a three-run blast in the top of the 1st inning. It was his second dinger of the year. Corpus Christi immediately answered with two of their own in the bottom half. Matt Wallner, who’s been going very well at the plate of late, launched his 9th home run in the 3rd inning. With Austin Martin on base, Wallner’s homer was a two-run blast and erased the two earlier Corpus Christi runs. Although Martin is going through it offensively, he did swipe his 19th base of the season tonight. Unfortunately that’s where the momentum shifted as the home team grabbed three runs in the bottom half of the third inning and then a two-run homer in the 5th inning put them on top for their first lead of the game. In the 7th inning Corpus Christi pushed across two more and the Wind Surge were looking at a four-run deficit. Scoring four runs on five hits was nice, but that wasn’t going to get it done for Wichita this evening. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 9, Wisconsin 0 Box Score Sawyer Gipson-Long worked six innings tonight for the Kernels and he was sharp. Allowing no runs on just two hits, Gipson-Long worked around four walks and punched out seven. His season ERA drops to 2.15 with this performance. Neither team jumped out to an early lead, but Cedar Rapids was able to break the zeroes in the 5th inning. Recently promoted Kyler Fedko reached on a fielder’s choice with Jair Camargo scoring on a throwing error. Wander Javier then roped his 6th double of the season to score Seth Gray and Fedko before an Alerick Soularie ground out brought Javier home. Things again got quiet until the 7th inning when Aaron Sabato stepped in and grounded a single to center, scoring Anthony Prato. Cedar Rapids had a five-run lead and with Wisconsin generating just two hits on the night that seemed like plenty of breathing room. Still not content, the Kernels went back to work in the 8th inning. A Will Holland single plated Fedko again before a Prato single scored Alerick Soularie. Christian Encarnacion-Strand made his presence felt hustling down the line and giving Holland a chance to score on an errant throw. Then with two on, Sabato came through again and his 5th double of the season drove in Prato. Adding four more runs in, this one was over before Wisconsin would even get their last raps. Despite the run production, Prato was the only Cedar Rapids batter with a multi-hit effort on the evening. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers 8, Bradenton 0 Box Score Fort Myers turned to prospect Steven Hajjar tonight and he was nothing short of exceptional. Working 5 2/3 innings, Hajjar allowed just two hits and a walk. He punched out a whopping ten hitters and lowered his ERA to 2.17 on the season. Jumping on the board early, Fort Myers tallied their first run when Noah Cardenas put a ball in play to score Mikey Perez. Cardenas was doubled up on the grounder so no RBI was recorded, but it started the cascade in the run column. The 5th inning was highlighted in a big way when Kyle Schmidt went out deep to centerfield for a grand slam. Cardenas, Kala’i Rosario, and Dylan Neuse all touched home plate with him on the big fly. Two more came across in the 7th inning when a botched play at shortstop allowed both Emmanuel Rodriguez and Cardenas to scamper home. Rosario made sure the Mighty Mussels weren’t done when he pushed Keoni Cavaco across the plate on a force out. Following up his earlier grand slam, Schmidt added a solo shot in the 9th inning to push the lead back to seven. Giving up two runs to Bradenton in the bottom of the 8th inning, the six-run deficit was as close as they’d get. Tonight’s run production was a team effort as the lone batter for Fort Myers with two hits was Schmidt. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day – Kyle Schmidt (Ft. Myers) - 2-5, 2 R, 5 RBI, 2 HR(4) Pitcher of the Day – Steve Hajjar (Ft. Myers) - 5.2 IP 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 10 K PROSPECT SUMMARY We will again keep tabs on the Twins top prospects. You’ll probably read about them in the team sections, but if they aren’t there, you’ll see how they did here. Here’s a look at how the current Twins Daily Top 20 performed: #1 - Austin Martin (Wichita) - 0-3, R, BB, K #2 - Royce Lewis (St. Paul) - 2-5, 2 R, RBI #3 - Jose Miranda (Minnesota) - 2-4, R, 2B #4 - Jordan Balazovic (St. Paul) - Did Not Pitch #5 - Joe Ryan (Minnesota) - Covid-IL #6 - Matt Canterino (Wichita) - Did Not Pitch #7 - Jhoan Duran (Minnesota) - Did Not Pitch #8 - Simeon Woods Richardson (Wichita) - Did Not Pitch #9 - Josh Winder (Minnesota) - Did Not Pitch #10 - Noah Miller (Ft. Myers) - 1-4, 2 K #11 - Gilberto Celestino (Minnesota) - 1-2, RBI #12 - Matt Wallner (Wichita) - 1-3, R, 2 RBI, BB, HR(9) #13 - Cole Sands (St. Paul) - Did Not Pitch #14 - Louie Varland (Wichita) - Did Not Pitch #15 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (Ft. Myers) - 1-4, R, 3 K #16 - Ronny Hendriquez (St. Paul) - Did Not Pitch #17 - Blayne Enlow (Wichita) - 3.0 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 4 BB, 3 K #18 - Spencer Steer (St. Paul) - 2-4, R, 2 RBI, 2B, HR(1) #19 - Edouard Julien (Wichita) - IL #20 - Steve Hajjar (Ft. Myers) - 5.2 IP 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 10 K FRIDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Indianapolis @ St. Paul (7:07PM CST) - RHP Dereck Rodriguez Wichita @ Corpus Christi (7:05PM CST) - RHP Matt Canterino Wisconsin @ Cedar Rapids (6:35PM CST) - RHP John Stankiewicz Fort Myers @ Bradenton (5:300PM CST) - TBD Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Thursday’s games! It sure is exciting to have all four Twins full-season affiliates back and playing. View full article