It was a rough day for Twins fans as the trade deadline. We all knew that the Twins were likely to be quite busy since they had so many players who were impending free agents. Understanding the prospect returns that high-leverage relievers were bringing back, if it had stopped with Jhoan Duran being traded, we all could have understand. But when Brock Stewart was traded for Josh Outman, I can’t find any redeeming qualities about that trade. But when I saw the Louis Varland trade to the Blue Jays, it made me sink. First and foremost, Kendry Rojas is a lefty who just got promoted to Triple-A after a quick stint in Double-A. 

But, as this article’s title mentions, thankfully we have the Twins minor leagues to follow so that we can work to tell ourselves that the future may be bright. There is certainly talent in the organization that we get to recognize each day. Check out what Kaelen Culpepper and Walker Jenkins did for the Wind Surge on Thursday. Marco Raya was strong again as well. 

TRADES
What… A… Day! Here are the Twins Daily articles for all of their trades at the deadline.

Chris Paddack, Randy Dobnak to Tigers
Jhoan Duran to Phillies
Harrison Bader to Phillies
Brock Stewart to Dodgers
Carlos Correa to Houston
Danny Coulombe to Texas
Willi Castro to Cubs
Griffin Jax to Tampa
Louis Varland to Toronto

TRANSACTIONS
LHP Kendry Rojas and OF James Outman were assigned to Triple-A St. Paul. 

RHPs Ryan Gallagher and Sam Armstrong and OF Hendry Mendez were assigned to Double-A Wichita.

C Eduardo Tait, LPH Garrett Horn, and Matt Mikulski were assigned to Cedar Rapids.
RHP Geremy  Villoria was assigned to DSL Twins.

LHP Jaylen Nowlin returned to Wichita after spending one day with St. Paul.

SAINTS SENTINEL
St. Paul 0, Toledo 2
Box Score
Marco Raya was very good and was on the mound a lot, but the Saints forgot to bring their bats on Thursday. Raya completed six innings and tossed 93 pitches in this game. He gave up two runs on six hits and two walks. The blemish was a four-inning home run by Jace Jung. He had six strikeouts. 

Aaron Rozek came on in relief. After a scoreless seventh inning, he gave up five runs in the eighth inning. 

Through eight innings, the Saints hitters had five walks, and no hits. With one out in the top of the ninth, Luke Keaschall pinch hit for Austin Martin. On a 3-0 count, Keaschall lined a single to left field. Well, that got things going. Edouard Julien followed with a single to right field. Jonah Bride singled to right to drive in Keaschall. A wild pitch put the tying runner on second base. However, the next two batters struck out, and the Saints fell short. 

WIND SURGE WISDOM
Game 1: Wichita 2, Amarillo 7
Box Score
This was actually a fairly close game. Amarillo led 3-1 until the bottom of the fifth when they added four runs and turned it into a blowout. 

The Wind Surge had just seven hits and three walks in the game. Kaelen Culpepper, the leadoff man, went 4-for-4 with his sixth Double-A homer and two RBI. Batting second, Walker Jenkins went 2-for-3 with a walk. Both added a stolen base. The rest of the lineup went a combined 1-for-20 with two walks. 

C.J. Culpepper started and went the first three innings. He gave up three runs on four hits and three walks. Mike Paredes gave up four runs on four hits and a walk in three innings.                                              

Game 2: Wichita 2, Amarillo 3
Box Score
John Klein made the start and tossed five scoreless innings. He gave up four hits, hit a batter, and had four strikeouts. Hunter Hoopes threw a scoreless sixth inning. Then in the seventh, he gave up a three-run, walkoff homer to Manuel Pena. 

The Surge got on the scoreboard in the third inning when Kaelen Culpepper doubled to drive in Jose Salas. 

In the sixth inning, Walker Jenkins knocked his fourth Wichita home run to make it 2-0. 

Like Game 1, it was just those top two hitters again. Culpepper was 1-for-3 with his fourth double. Jenkins was 2-for-3 with his eighth double and fourth homer. Jose Salas also doubled for the fourth time. 

KERNELS NUGGETS
Cedar Rapids 7, Lansing 4
Box Score
A four-run sixth inning helped the Kernels to another win over Leo De Vries and the Fort Wayne, er, Lansing Lugnuts. Earlier in the morning, De Vries, a consensus top five prospect in baseball was the key component to the trade that sent Mason Miller from the A’s to the Padres. 

In the top of the third, Billy Amick doubled to drive in Caden Kendle with the game’s first run. 

Lansing scored two runs in the bottom of the inning to take the lead. However, the Kernels reclaimed the lead in the top of the fifth. Kyle Hess led off with his second triple of the season. Kendle followed with the sacrifice fly. Kyle DeBarge got things going again right away with a single and went to second on an error. He then stole third, his 55th base of the season, and scored on an Amick single. 

In the sixth inning, Jay Thomason singled to start the inning. Jaime Ferrer walked. After an out, Hess walked to load the bases. Kendle singled to drive in two runs and make it 5-2. DeBarge and Amick followed with RBI singles to make it 7-2. 

Ty Langenberg made the start. He went the first 5 2/3 innings and gave up four runs on seven hits. He had two walks and four strikeouts. Nick Trabacchi faced eight batters and recorded seven outs, three on strikeouts. His only blemish was a hit batter. Sam Perez pitched a scoreless ninth inning to record his third save. 

DeBarge and Amick were both 3-for-5 with a double. Amick drove in three runs and DeBarge drove in one run. Ferrer went 1-for-2 with two walks. 

MUSSEL MATTERS
Fort Myers 3, Bradenton 5
Box Score
A four-run third inning for the Marauders was pretty much the difference in this game. 

Jason Doktorczyk started and gave up four runs (2 earned) on three hits and two walks and a hit batters in four innings. He struck out three. Brent Francisco made his first Mussel appearance and struck out two batters over two, one-hit innings. Tyler Stasiowski gave up a solo homer over his two innings. 

Down 4-1 going to the sixth inning, the Mussels mounted a rally. Dameury Pena reached on an error and went to second. Yasser Mercedes singled to drive in Pena and went to second on the throw. After a ground out, Mercedes stole 29th. 

Next, 19-year-old newbie Enrique Jimenez lined a single to left, his first hit in the Twins organization, to drive in Marcedes and make it 4-3. 

The Mussels had seven hits. Caleb McNeely went 2-for-4

DOMINICAN DAILIES
DSL Twins 5, DSL Phillies 3 
Box Score
The Twins fell behind early. Through five innings, they were down 3-0. In the top of the sixth Cristian Bonifacio walked and went to second and then third on wild pitches. Teilon Serrano walked. He went to second on a wild pitch which also allowed Bonifacio to score. Santiago Leon was hit by a pitch. 

After a pitching change, a flyout pushed the two runners to second and third. Serrano scored on a wild pitch. Joyner Perez doubled to drive in Santiago and tie the game at 3-3. 

That is where the score remained until the ninth inning. Gerardo Cardona singled to lead off the inning. Jhomnardo Reyes pinch ran for him and advanced to second on a passed ball and third on a wild pitch. Darwin Almanzar doubles to drive in Reyes and give the Twins the 4-3 lead. With one out, Serrano singled to right to drive in the fifth run. 

Jesus Gomez started and gave up two runs on three hits and a walk in three innings. He had two strikeouts. Eli Urena pitched the fourth inning and gave up one run on one walk. He had two strikeouts. Eliezer Lucena worked the final five innings. He gave up no runs on one hit and a walk while striking out three.  

The Twins had six hits and eight walks in the game. Joyner Perez was 1-for-2 with two walks. Almanzar’s double was his 13th of the season. Cristian Bonifacio went 1-for-2 with two walks and his fifth double. 

PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Hitter of the Day  
Kaelen Culpepper (Wichita):  5-for-7, 2B(4), HR(6), R, 3 RBI, K, SB(5)
Walker Jenkins (Wichita):  4-for-6, BB, 2B(8), HR(4), R, RBI, 2 K, SB(8)

Pitcher of the Day 
Eliezer Lucena (DSL Twins): 5 IP, H, 0 R, BB, 3 K.
John Klein (Wichita): 5 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, HBP, 4 K. 

PROSPECT SUMMARY
Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did on Thursday.

#1– Walker Jenkins (Wichita) – 4-for-6, BB, 2B(8), HR(4), R, RBI, 2 K, SB(8) (CF both games)
#2 – Luke Keaschall (Minnesota) – 1-for-1, R (PH)
#3 – Kaelen Culpepper (Wichita) – 5-for-7, 2B(4), HR(6), R, 3 RBI, K, SB(5) (SS both games)
#8 – Gabriel Gonzalez (Wichita) – 0-for-6, BB, 3 K.
#9 – Marco Raya (St. Paul) – 6 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, HBP, WP, 6 K, 93 pitches, 55 strikes (59.1%)
#11 – Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) – 0-for-5, K (played SS)
#14 – Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids) – 3-for-5, R, 2B(19),  RBI, K, SB(55) (played 2B)
#15 – C.J. Culpepper (Wichita) – 3 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, 57 pitches, 34 strikes (59.6%)
#16 – Billy Amick (Cedar Rapids) – 3-for-5, 2B(12), 3 RBI (played 3B)
#19 – Eduardo Beltre (Fort Myers) – 1-for-4, 2 K (played CF)
#20 – Ricardo Olivar (Wichita) – 0-for-6, 3 K (DHd, then played LF)

FRIDAY PITCHING PROBABLES
St. Paul @ Toledo (6:05 PM CT) – RHP Cory Lewis (3-4, 6.79 ERA),
Wichita @ Amarillo (7:05 PM CT) – LHP Connor Prielipp (0-4, 2.94 ERA)
Cedar Rapids @ Lansing (6:05 PM CT) – TBD
Dunedin @ Fort Myers (6:05 PM CT) – LHP Michael Carpenter (0-4, 4.66 ERA)
DSL Rockies @ DSL Twins (10:00 AM CT) – TBD 

CURRENT W-L Records
Minnesota Twins: 51-57
St. Paul Saints: 46-57
Wichita Wind Surge: 52-47
Cedar Rapids Kernels: 58-40
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 43-54
FCL Twins: 39-20 (finished 2nd in FCL playoffs)
DSL Twins: 16-26

Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the rosters, and discuss Thursday’s games, or anything else Twins minor-league related!

Interested in learning more about the Minnesota Twins’ top prospects? Check out our comprehensive top prospects list that includes up-to-date stats, articles and videos about every prospect, scouting reports, and more!

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