Minnesota Twins Top 36 Prospects

Top Prospects Series

Below is an evaluation of the prospects within the farm system of the Minnesota Twins. Scouting stories had been compiled with data offered by business sources in addition to my very own observations. This is the third yr we’re delineating between two anticipated reduction roles, the abbreviations for which you’ll see within the “position” column under: MIRP for multi-inning reduction pitchers, and SIRP for single-inning reduction pitchers. The ETAs listed typically correspond to the yr a participant needs to be added to the 40-man roster to keep away from being made eligible for the Rule 5 draft. Manual changes are made the place they appear acceptable, however I exploit that as a rule of thumb.

A fast overview of what FV (Future Value) means might be discovered right here. A a lot deeper overview might be discovered right here.

All of the ranked prospects under additionally seem on The Board, a useful resource the positioning gives that includes sortable scouting data for each group. It has extra particulars (and up to date TrackMan information from varied sources) than this text and integrates each staff’s record so readers can evaluate prospects throughout farm methods. It might be discovered right here.

Other Prospects of Note

Grouped by kind and listed so as of desire inside every class.

Catching Depth
Carlos Silva, C
Alex Isola, C
Pat Winkel, C
Andrew Cossetti, C

Silva (not the 280-pound righty who additionally as soon as performed for the Twins) signed for $1.1 million in January as a power-hitting catcher with a maxed body. Isola, Winkel, and Cossetti are all bat-first catchers who’ve work to do behind the plate.

Upper-Level Depth Relievers
Blayne Enlow, RHP
Jaylen Nowlin, LHP
Kody Funderburk, LHP
Carlos Luna, RHP
Jose Bravo, RHP
Sean Mooney, RHP

Enlow is carving Double-A despite the fact that his fastball has misplaced practically three ticks from final yr. He’s commanding his heater up and to his arm facet, and righties battle to parse his in-zone breaking ball from his heater when he units it up there. He might nonetheless be a low-leverage multi-inning reliever. Nowlin, 22, is beginning at High-A Cedar Rapids proper now, sitting 91-93 mph with a superb slider. An eventual bullpen transfer would possibly give him viable massive league warmth. Funderburk appears like certainly one of your outdated man’s pretend swears, however he’s a 26-year-old lefty with a sneaky low-90s fastball and a good slider. Luna, 26, is a superb upper-level emergency depth arm with command of a bunch of 45-grade pitches in his slider, changeup, and driving 90 mph fastball. Bravo, 25, has six pitches should you rely his four- and two-seamer as completely different choices, the very best of which is an influence mid-80s changeup. Mooney, 25, had success as an older starter at Double-A in 2022 due to his three pitches’ massive breaking motion. He sits 92 and mixes in a median slider and changeup, however he hasn’t pitched for some time on account of shoulder tendinitis.

Younger Guys With Upside
Anderson Nova, OF
Rafael Cruz, 3B
Bryan Acuna, 3B
Alejandro Hidalgo, RHP

Nova, 18, is a mature-framed, lefty-hitting outfielder with sizable current energy. Cruz, 19, is a SS/3B with plus bat pace and a really uncooked total recreation. Acuña comes from the gifted Acuña household. He has plus bat pace, however his plate protection isn’t excellent, and I contemplate him to have a high-risk hit device. Hidalgo came visiting from the Angels within the Gio Urshela commerce and has struggled. At peak, he’ll sit 94 mph, contact 97, and present you a hammer curveball, however his velo and strike-throwing have been absent for the final yr or so.

Corner College Bats
Ben Ross, UTIL
Jorel Ortega, 3B
Aaron Sabato, DH

Ross comes from Division-II Notre Dame College in Cleveland and is taking part in all around the diamond within the Midwest League, a possible tremendous utility man with vanilla offensive instruments. Ortega, a Day Two decide from Tennessee in final yr’s draft, is crushing Low-A proper now, however he ought to be after seeing SEC pitching for a few years. He hit 18 bombs final season and has massive league physicality and energy, which he most readily faucets into when he can get prolonged and blast pitches up and away from him. Sabato, a former first rounder, produced a few of the highest peak exit velocities within the minors final yr, however he swings and misses a ton and is on the very backside of the defensive spectrum.

System Overview

The AL Central-leading Twins have an above-average farm system thanks largely to their potential to amass and develop pitching, and despite some latest early-round whiffs within the draft (like Alerick Soularie, Aaron Sabato, Keoni Cavaco, and Noah Miller, who’s simply okay). They goal soft-tossing strike-throwers, typically from smaller faculty packages, whose fastballs have underlying traits that may both allow them to play at a serviceable degree in the event that they sit 90 mph without end or actually blow up in the event that they begin to throw tougher. The gamers who get away (like David Festa and maybe traded lefty Cade Povich) are typically the extra athletic, bigger-framed guys, whereas slower twitch guys like Bailey Ober and Brent Headrick have hovered round 90.

Because the Twins have had combined success on the massive league degree over the last 5 years, they’ve made some sellers trades which have pulled prospects into the org from different methods. They cowl the complexes fairly closely and have been able to pounce when the chance to take action has offered itself, most lately by plundering Byron Chourio from the Marlins. Even after they’ve made offers from a spot of neutrality, just like the Arraez/López commerce, they’ve tended to get a number of prospects again in return, which has helped maintain the system pretty deep. This is regardless of the consumers trades they made for relievers finally yr’s deadline. In explicit, the four-for-one swap with Baltimore that netted Jorge López cuts fairly deep proper now as a result of Yennier Cano is out-pitching López on his personal up to now in 2023. The Twins clearly had holes to fill final yr and you need to hand over one thing to get one thing, however you shouldn’t hand over one thing, one thing, one thing, and one thing.

Minnesota is as soon as once more main a weak division and is in place so as to add to the massive membership on the deadline. They are flush with pretty younger, left-handed hitting energy bats who aren’t “prospects” anymore, however the group that features Trevor Larnach, Alex Kirilloff, Matt Wallner, Edouard Julien, and 30-year-old Max Kepler strikes me because the nicely most probably to be drawn from in commerce discussions due to their collective redundancy. The optionable starters on the 40-man are equally deep.