MINNEAPOLIS – With the year just about at the halfway point in full-season Minor Leagues, it’s time to take a look around the Twins’ system and hand out some virtual hardware. And for an overall system Player of the Year in the first half, it’s hard to look past Triple-A St. Paul standout Carson McCusker. The 6-foot-8 slugger forced the Major League club’s hand and actually got a cup of coffee with the Twins in May, but he’s back with the Saints now and still hitting dingers. A somewhat quiet June has brought McCusker’s overall numbers from “otherworldly” down to merely outstanding. He’s tied for third in the International League with 14 home runs, and he has 14 doubles, 46 RBIs, and 32 runs as of Saturday afternoon to boot. McCusker remains an unranked prospect due to his age – he turned 27 last month. But he’s done nothing but produce since joining the Twins system after a stint in independent ball after college. Here’s a look at other first-half standouts from elsewhere in the system. |
Double-A Wichita: OF Gabriel Gonzalez (No. 17 prospect) If we were limiting the overall player of the year honor to ranked prospects, Gonzalez would be the winner. A former Top 100 prospect, Gonzalez struggled through a difficult 2024 but has found his way again this year. He began the year by returning to High-A Cedar Rapids, but quickly earned a promotion and has kept raking since being bumped up. Gonzalez has maintained the command of the strike zone that he’s always shown, even last year, but has gotten back to the ability to hit for average that he showed earlier in his career. He sports a combined .326/.392/.496 line entering Saturday. High-A Cedar Rapids: IF Kaelen Culpepper (No. 4) Culpepper has actually recently been promoted to Double-A as well, but he’s played a much larger chunk of his season at the High-A level. And he’s been exceptional. A 2024 first-round pick, Culpepper has shown everything the Twins hoped for in his first full pro season: an all-around offensive profile, quality defense at shortstop and even 15 steals in 17 tries. |
Single-A Fort Myers: LHP Dasan Hill (No. 13) Shouts go out to infielder Jay Thomason and outfielder Maddux Houghton, both of whom have put up nice numbers in relatively limited duty for the Mighty Mussels. But if we’re going with a player who hasn’t gotten a lot of reps at Fort Myers, it has to be 2024 draftee Hill. The big lefty has one of the most exciting arms in the entire Twins system, and he’s dominated hitters in his first taste of professional baseball. Entering his start Saturday night, he had amassed 43 strikeouts against 16 walks in 27 1/3 innings, allowing just 12 hits. |
MLB MORNING LINEUP PODCAST |
When Jhoan Duran faced one batter with a 10-run deficit on Friday, you may have wondered exactly what it was all about. It turns out, it was actually at least somewhat by design. Duran hadn’t pitched over the previous four days, and he has a preference for regular work. So one way or another, he was going to pitch on Friday night. When the game got out of hand, however, it became a challenging situation for manager Rocco Baldelli. How to get Duran some work, without risking him having a long outing and reducing his availability over the ensuing days? Bringing him in with two outs in the eighth served both purposes. “You combine a lot of different things to make just a small decision like that,” Baldelli said. “Duran hadn’t thrown in four games. It would’ve been five. We have also our science that points us in certain directions, too. It doesn’t tell us what to do but it kind of encourages us on certain days. … “On days like that, I think getting the guys in, even if it’s for a hitter, is better than [starting] them for an inning. You don’t want a guy throwing 20, 25 pitches when you’re trying to get him on the mound to get him some work. It’s about staying sharp. It’s about keeping their bodies built up, their arms built up so they can just keep going with their season. One thing we want to avoid is guys getting five, six, seven days, especially our backend guys, without touching the mound in a game. We want to avoid that and we will avoid that.” |
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“We’ve been such a -- this goes back for a couple years now -- seemingly such a rollercoaster of a team. We have our highs and we have our lows. And I wish we could put a finger on why we can’t stay a little bit more level. We’ve dealt with some injuries but it seemingly, over the last couple years, always happens all together at once. It’s not like the pitchers are playing well and the hitters aren’t banging the ball around the ballpark, or the pitchers are really lights-out and we’re not putting up anything. There’s not one group that’s carrying us and that’s kind of how it’s been. It’s been when we’re clicking, we’re clicking everything on all cylinders and when we’re not, no part of our game is working. We’ve got to figure out how, I guess.” -- Ryan Jeffers |
AND, FINALLY, THE PLAYLIST |
Let’s put it on shuffle today and pick out some highlights. Buffalo Tom, “See To Me” Sleater-Kinney, “Heart Factory” Camp Cope, “The Opener” Aimee Mann, “Driving With One Hand On The Wheel” Frank Turner, “Wessex Boy” |
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