Image courtesy of David Malamut (photo of Brandon Winokur)

Game Results:
Tuesday, 10/21 | Game 1: Scottsdale 5, Peoria 1 (7 innings)
Tuesday, 10/21 | Game 2: Scottsdale 4, Peoria 8 (7 innings)
Wednesday, 10/22 | Glendale 6, Peoria 10
Thursday, 10/23 | Scottsdale 12, Peoria 3 (7 innings)
Saturday, 10/25 | Peoria 11, Glendale 2
Sunday, 10/26 | Peoria 2, Surprise 3

Minnesota Twins prospects and the Peoria Javelinas continued week three of the Arizona Fall League by hovering around the .500 mark, sitting at 8-8 and in third place in the standings at the halfway point.

They opened the week by splitting a doubleheader with the Scottsdale Scorpions, then traded wins and losses the rest of the week.

It was a bit of a rough one for the Twins contingent when it came to overall performances, so again they won’t appear among the top performers in week 3. But one infielder played in five of their six games, hitting his first AFL home run, and a pitcher continued to take advantage of his opportunity with another strong outing.

OF Hendry Mendez
Week (did not play)
Overall: .300/.391/.500 (.891 OPS)
While there has been no news about if Hendry Mendez is injured or otherwise occupied, he did not appear in any games during the week after a strong start with at least one hit in all five of his games thus far.

He was pinch hit for relatively early in a game last week after picking up a single in two at-bats, which seemed to point toward something physical, but it didn’t seem noteworthy when he was back in action two days later and played a full game. But that’s the last time he’s been seen for in-game action.

If Twins Daily is able to verify any information on why he has been missing, we will be sure to pass it along! 

IF Brandon Winokur
Week (5 games): 3-for-16, 3 R, 2B, HR (1), 4 RBI, 2 BB, 4 K
Overall: .200/.275/.289 (.564 OPS)
While he may not be picking up hits in bunches, Winokur sure seems to know how to make them count. 

In Wednesday’s 10-6 win over the Glendale Desert Dogs, Winokur got the scoring started in the bottom of the second inning. The first two batters went down swinging, but luckily for the Javelinas the second one ended up on first base due to wild pitch. The 6-foot-6 slugger made them pay, turning on a low and inside fastball that made it 2-0.

Later in the bottom of the fifth Winokur again put a good swing on the ball, but this one only was able to go far enough into center field for a sacrifice fly that put the Javelinas up by four. He finished this game 1-for-2 with a walk, two runs scored, the home run, and three RBI.

Later in the week on Saturday Winokur’s two-out-RBI-double in the top of the fifth capped off a five-run inning that allowed Peoria to take control of the game.

The infielder hit toward the bottom of the Javelinas lineup in every game of the week except the last one, where he moved up to fifth, and spent three games at shortstop and two at third base.

IF Billy Amick
Week (3 games): 0-for-8, R, 3 BB, 6 K
Overall: .000/.290/.000 (.290 OPS)
The quest for Amick’s first hit of the AFL season continues, but despite that he did have a nice line in the second game of their doubleheader on Tuesday. Batting eighth and playing third base, he drew two walks in three at-bats. One of those to led off the fourth inning, and he scored the first run of a five-run frame on a double from Ethan Anderson a few batters later. Amick played first base in his two other games during the week, but as you can see in the stat line, having trouble even putting the ball in play continues to hold him back. It’s frankly been a bit surprising, as it is the opposite of how he reshaped that image of him with the Cedar Rapids Kernels this season where he hit .310/.418/.455.

RHP Miguelangel Boadas
Week (1 appearance): W, 4 IP, H, 0 R, BB, K
Overall: 1-0, 1.80 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, .182 BAA, 6 BB, 6 K (10 IP)
The right-hander once again took the mound in the middle of the game for his lone appearance of the week but pitched a large chunk of it. He came into Saturday’s game for the bottom of the fourth inning with the score tied at one. By the time he was done his squad was up 11-1, and he took home his first win of the season for his four-inning effort.

He had one-two-three frames in each of the fourth and seventh and induced a double-play ball in the fifth to only face three hitters after giving up a leadoff single. The Desert Dogs’ lone other baserunner against him was a two-out walk in the sixth.

Boadas threw 53 pitches in the outing, with 34 going for strikes (64%), and he topped out at 97.2 MPH with his fastball. 

Boadas missed a large portion of the 2024 season and all of 2025 after undergoing Tommy John surgery, so his work in the AFL so far should be pretty eye opening as it is the first time back on the mound for him since then.

HP Hunter Hoopes
Week (2 appearances): 2 IP, 5 H, 5 R (4 ER), 2 BB, K
Overall: 0-1, 7.20 ERA, 1.80 WHIP, .250 BAA, 4 BB, 6 K (5 IP)
Hoopes finally ran into some trouble out in Arizona, and as a result his stat line which was full of zeroes last week now looks a bit more unsightly.

In game one of their doubleheader on Tuesday, Hoopes began the top of the fourth with Peoria in front 1-0 after their starter went the first three innings. When it was over the Scorpions had taken a 4-1 lead. Before he was able to record an out, he had loaded the bases (single, walk, HBP) and allowed the Scorpions first run of the game on an RBI single. Another two-run single gave the Scorpions their four runs, but on a positive note he picked up his lone strikeout of the week against #2 overall prospect Kevin McGonigle, who whiffed at consecutive changeups to go down swinging.

Back at it on Saturday to follow Boadas, Hoopes allowed one of the Desert Dogs two runs on a solo home run from the leadoff man in the eighth. He proceeded to walk one and allow a single but came out without any further damage by getting a pair of flyouts to end the inning.

RHP Jakob Hall
Week (1 appearance): 1 IP, H, K
Overall: 0-0, 9.82 ERA, 1.64 WHIP, .333 BAA (3 2/3 IP)
Hall’s lone appearance of the week also came in the Javelinas blowout of the Desert Dogs on Saturday, as the first reliever of the game in the third inning. He allowed a leadoff single, and his defense committed an error behind him, but he was able to work around it for a scoreless inning as they caught a runner stealing and he picked up a timely strikeout.

LHP Zander Sechrist
Week (1 appearance): 1 IP, 2 H, ER
Overall: 0-0, 3.60 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, .235 BAA, 2 BB, 4 K (5 IP)
The lefty out of Tennessee made his lone appearance of the week in Wednesday’s 10-6 win over Glendale. After Peoria’s starter went the first three scoreless innings but then walked the first three batters of the fourth, Sechrist came on in a bad situation with the bases loaded and nobody out. He got the first out on a sacrifice fly, but then a three-run homer put the Desert Dogs in front and resulted in a blown save and earned run on his own ledger. He also gave up a two-out single before getting out of the inning, but thankfully his team was able to come back with four runs of their own in the bottom of the fourth, and they wouldn’t look back.

RHP Dylan Questad
Week (1 appearance): 1 1/3 IP, H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 3 K
Overall: 0-1, 21.00 ERA, 3.33 WHIP, .182 BAA, 8 BB, 4 K (3 IP)
Questad fared much the same as Hoopes and Sechrist recapped before him, as his lone outing of the week included a bunch of earned runs as he had some trouble finding the strike zone. The game was at least already out of hand for Peoria when he came on in the sixth inning with the score 8-2 in favor of Scottsdale. He worked around a single with a pair of strikeouts for a scoreless first inning, but four walks in the seventh pushed one run across before he was lifted. All of those runners would end up scoring to make the 12-3 final, so Questad will look to build on the three strikeouts he picked up heading into week four.

Please feel free to ask questions and discuss the Twins prospects playing in the AFL this week!

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