Cedar Rapids Kernels begin Midwest League title defense Friday

CEDAR RAPIDS — They got their commemorative rings recently at the end of spring training. It was a nice little ceremony and everything down in Fort Myers, Fla.

Then a bunch of players and a couple of coaches who were part of the 2023 Midwest League championship experience headed back to town as repeat Cedar Rapids Kernels.

Repeat championship winners? There’s a good five months-plus before that’s determined.

“That team was really close,” Kernels infielder Luke Keaschall said Wednesday during an indoor workout session at Veterans Memorial Stadium. “I kind of came in at the end (of the season) and didn’t know how I was going to fit in. But they welcomed me with open arms, and it was a fun time. We ended up winning. Everybody got sick at the end of the year. A lot of good stories, a lot of good memories.”

Keaschall was one of the key guys for a Kernels club that gave the city its first professional baseball title since 1994. He’ll be a key guy for this Kernels club as it begins the 2024 MWL season.

Cedar Rapids plays games Friday night, Saturday and Sunday afternoon at Beloit. The home opener is Tuesday night against Dayton.

“I think we’re going to be a good team,” said Keaschall, a second-round draft pick last year and one of seven Kernels ranked among the top 30 prospects in the Minnesota Twins organization, according to MLB.com.

“A lot of familiar faces back to start with,” said Kernels Manager Brian Dinkelman, who returns with pitching coach Jonas Lovin from last year’s staff. “We were young last year, especially on the position-player side. We’ve got some younger guys here again, position players, so we’ll see what happens. We’ll go out there Friday night and get it started.”

Keaschall and infielders Jose Salas and Keoni Cavaco return from last year’s team, Salas and Cavaco playing here the entire season. Misael Urbina and Willie Joe Garry Jr. are returnees in the outfield.

Keaschall (9), outfielder Gabriel Gonzalez (4) and shortstop Danny DeAndrade (14) are prospects who will play most days. Gonzalez and starting pitcher Darren Bowen (29) were acquired from the Seattle Mariners organization in an offseason trade that sent major league second baseman Jorge Polanco west.

“He had a strong spring,” Dinkelman said of the 20-year-old Gonzalez. “First time getting to see him play. His defense was OK, I thought. Had some good at-bats. Exciting to see how he handles himself here.”

It’ll be exciting to see how the starting pitching rotation handles itself. That six-man rotation includes right-handers C.J. Culpepper (8), Andrew Morris (18) and Zebby Matthews (20), all of whom were rotation guys at the end of last season and in that MLB.com Twins top 30.

Morris will get the opening-night start. He’ll be followed by righty John Klein (an Iowa Central Community College product) on Saturday and lefty Christian MacLeod on Sunday.

Klein made one late-season start for the Kernels in 2023 and MacLeod 14 of them.

“Those guys were pretty strong for us last year, and coming back into the rotation this year will hopefully give us a chance to win some ballgames,” Dinkelman said. “You get some innings out of your starters, and it makes it easier for your bullpen.”

The bullpen includes returnees John Stankiewicz, Jordan Carr, A.J. Labas, Ricardo Velez and Gabriel Yanez. Midwest League experience abounds on this team.

“This team’s going to be fun,” Keaschall said. “Especially with a lot of the pitchers coming back. The pitchers kind of dominated last year, and almost all of those guys are back, so it’ll be fun to see them pick up where they left off.

“I think we’ve got a lot of good infielders, a lot of guys here who are trying to prove themselves. Good outfielding crew, too. The position side is going to be a little different (than last year), but I think everybody is going to come out and work hard, compete hard.”

Twins 2023 top draft pick Walker Jenkins, a high school outfielder who tore it up in his pro debut last summer, begins the season with low-Class A Fort Myers, but will likely play in Cedar Rapids at some point this summer. Former Iowa Hawkeyes pitcher Ty Langenberg also is starting with Fort Myers.

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