With prospects galore, Cedar Rapids Kernels ready to get their 2025 season started

CEDAR RAPIDS - The playoff streak has ended, but there’s a feeling around the ballpark another one could begin this summer.

At least that’s a feeling permeating the home clubhouse portion of Veterans Memorial Stadium.

The Cedar Rapids Kernels begin their 132-game Midwest League regular-season odyssey Friday night. Cedar Rapids is at Wisconsin for three weekend games: Friday night, Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon.

The Kernels failed to make the postseason last year for the first time in 10 years, which spanned the length of their player development agreement with the Minnesota Twins. They were still a pretty good ball club, just not quite good enough wins and losses wise.

But you look at this 29-man opening-day roster, and you see prospects all over the place. There is talent and potential.

“The ingredients are definitely there,” said Manager Brian Meyer. “From an offensive perspective, from a defensive perspective, from a pitching perspective, the ingredients are here on this roster right now. We all know how quickly rosters can change in minor league baseball. But you look at the opening-day roster, you can’t help but just be excited about it.”

Meyer is in his first season managing the Men of Corn, moving up from low-A Fort Myers. Brian Dinkelman, last year’s skipper, also received a promotion, to Double-A Wichita.

The new leader here has 10 players who are listed by MLB Pipeline among the top 30 prospects in the Twins system. That includes six infielders.

Of course, you can’t play six infielders at one time, so you’ll see guys interspersed elsewhere at times. For instance, Brandon Winokur (Minnesota’s No. 7 prospect) plays shortstop and center field.

Middle infielder Kyle DeBarge (12) is expected to get some time in the outfield eventually as well. Rayne Doncon (15) played shortstop and third base last season for the Kernels but is expected to see some first base.

Billy Amick (14) will play the corner infield spots. Kaelen Culpepper (4), last year’s top draft pick of the Twins, is a shortstop but could play third base, second base or the outfield.

Danny DeAndrade (25) played shortstop and second for last season’s Kernels before incurring an ankle injury in May that ended up finishing his season.

“If you look at that group of infielders, all six of them are extremely talented,” Meyer said. “All of them are extremely high-ranked prospects who draw out the best of each other in competition. It’s still focusing on their own individual development and their growth to get to the major leagues, but (it’s) just having the ability to have somebody standing next to you who you know is really talented. That competition is going to come out in each and every one of them. And a lot of them are versatile.”

“There’s definitely competition, but I don’t really think it’s as much as people might think,” Winokur said. “It’s good competition. We’re all there to support each other.”

Khadim Diaw and Nate Baez are the listed catchers on this team, with Diaw ranked 29th by MLB Pipeline. He is the first player of Senegalese descent to be a MLB draft pick (last year out of Loyola Marymount University).

Outfielders include Misael Urbina, Gabriel Gonzalez and Kyle Hess, all of whom played the entire 2024 season or part of the 2024 season in Cedar Rapids. Jaime Ferrer and Caden Kendle were top-five round draft picks of the Twins last summer out of Florida State and California-Irvine, respectively.

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The most highly touted of the pitchers is Charlee Soto, a 19-year-old right-hander who was a first-round compensation pick of the Twins in 2023. He pitched all last season at Fort Myers, experiencing the ups and downs you’d expect an 18-year-old to have in low-A.

But he finished well and came to spring training last month showing off a fastball that was sitting upper 90s, an increase from a season ago.

“He’s a great competitor. When he gets out on the mound, he wants to dominate,” Meyer said. “He went through his growing pains last year, had a really good outing his first outing, then kind of hit a wall like most kids do in low-A ... But he got through it.

“He finished the year very strong, had a strong offseason, came back in really good shape, has physically grown, has matured emotionally and is sitting 98 to 100. The offspeed has gotten better, changeup is still great. He had a really good spring, and people are really high on him, which they should be.”

Soto will start Friday night’s opener. Righty Anderson Hidalgo, who pitched 2023 for the Kernels and missed last season after Tommy John elbow surgery, is slated to pitch Saturday, left-hander Ross Dunn on Sunday.

The rest of the rotation consists of former Iowa Hawkeye righty Ty Langenberg, right-hander Tanner Hall and right-hander Jose Olivares. The bullpen has seven guys who pitched part of last season in Cedar Rapids: Gabriel Yanez, Jeremy Lee, Spencer Bengard, Juan Mendez, Juan Mercedes, Jack Noble, Samuel Perez and Jacob Wosinksi.

The Kernels’ home opener is Tuesday night against the Beloit Sky Carp at 6:35, the first of a six-game series.

“This is an awesome team we have,” Winokur said. “We have a really good group of guys. We all love each other, we all poke fun of each other, make jokes every day. We keep it fresh ... We have a ton of fun. It’s going to be a really good group this year.”

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