This story was excerpted from Matthew Leach's Twins Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- He¡¯s not even a ranked prospect, but Carson McCusker is undeniably turning heads in the early going at Triple-A St. Paul.
For one thing, you can¡¯t miss him. McCusker, 26, is listed at 6-foot-8 and 250 pounds, and he looks every bit that tall.
For another, he¡¯s got a fascinating back story. McCusker was a 26th-round pick of the Brewers out of a California junior college in the 2017 MLB Draft, didn¡¯t sign, then played four years at Oklahoma State and was undrafted after the ¡®21 season. McCusker played three seasons in the independent Frontier League before signing with the Twins as a free agent in ¡®23.
Since then, all he¡¯s done is hit. McCusker has 39 home runs in 189 games in the Twins¡¯ system, and he¡¯s turned it up this year. His six homers are tied for the third-highest total in the International League, he¡¯s hitting .306 and he¡¯s got five doubles to boot.
All while the big league team has scuffled at times to score runs.
As a result, there¡¯s more attention on McCusker than ever before. He¡¯s not a ranked prospect largely because of his age, but it¡¯s not like there¡¯s never been a 26-year-old rookie before. The bigger issue may be that he¡¯s not on the 40-man roster. For a brief moment, it appeared the Twins might have room for him after outrighting Diego Cartaya, but the acquisition of Kody Clemens on Saturday means Minnesota is once again at capacity on the 40-man.
So it¡¯s far from a guarantee McCusker will be on the big club any time soon, or even at all. But as long as he keeps hitting, he¡¯ll keep drawing attention.
Elsewhere in the Minors ¡
Double-A Wichita: Connor Prielipp, the Twins¡¯ No. 1 pitching prospect (No. 5 in the system overall), continues to build slowly as a starter at Double-A, as scheduled. His April 26 outing was his most effective of the year to date, with no hits, no runs, one walk and four strikeouts in three innings. Prielipp, a second-rounder in 2022, has 17 K¡¯s against two walks in 10 2/3 innings over four starts. He¡¯s one of the most exciting arms in the system, but his checkered health history means the club is going to proceed extremely carefully with him.
High-A Cedar Rapids: Kaelen Culpepper, the Twins¡¯ No. 1 Draft pick in 2024, has returned to action for the Kernels. Culpepper suffered a hamstring injury in Spring Training, then missed 10 days in April on the injured list, reportedly due to a right wrist injury. Culpepper didn¡¯t look any worse for wear upon his return, rapping out three hits in his first two games back. Culpepper, a shortstop, is ranked as Minnesota¡¯s No. 4 prospect per MLB Pipeline.
Single-A Fort Myers: Outfielder Byron Chourio leads the Florida State League in walks. Entering Sunday, he had 20 free passes against 16 strikeouts in 17 games, and his walk total outpaced any other player in the FSL by five.