Rosario, De Andrade Headline Twins Contingent to Arizona Fall League

[Seth Stohs]

We finally have the rosters for the 2024 Arizona Fall League. The Twins' group is certainly not going to excite fans too much, but we'll still write about them here and follow them starting when the season begins Oct. 7.

Image courtesy of Ed Bailey, Wichita Wind Surge / Seth Stohs (photo of Danny De Andrade)

The Arizona Fall League is often touted as a great place to find prospects after the season. The season begins October 7th and will conclude on November 16th with the championship games. 

The Twins players will play for the Salt River Rafters, along with the prospects of the Diamondbacks, Nationals, Rockies, and Yankees.  Specifically, Tyler Smarslok (Saints Defensive Coach) will be the manager of the Rafters. 

Smarslok (MGR, 32) joined the Twins organization for the 2020 season. He was set to be a coach in the GCL before the season was canceled. Since 2021, he has been on the Saints coaching staff with Toby Gardenhire. The defense/infield coach was a four-year starter at Kean University. He went to three Division III World Series and won a Rawlings Gold Glove. 

If I'm being honest, the Twins aren't sending any pitching prospects. None of the five pitchers would be near a Top 50 Twins prospect list. That doesn't mean that they aren't intriguing, especially with the way that the Twins pitcher development has helped several pitchers reach their full potential. But these names aren't going to excite fans. That's normal. Teams hardly ever send high-end hurlers to that meat grinder of a showcase circuit.

As it relates to position players, they are sending three players. Two of them are Top 25 Twins prospects who missed significant time this season due to injury.  Let's take a look at the players representing the Twins in the AFL. 

Kade Bragg (LHP, 23)
Bragg was the Twins 17th round pick in 2023 out of Angelo State University in Texas. He pitched in six games for the Mighty Mussels early in the year. He had a 1.08 ERA. He gave up five hits, five walks and nine strikeouts in 8 1/3 innings. Then he went on the Injured List and missed the rest of the season. After he was drafted, he was a guy that was very intriguing due to good stuff and the fact that he went 15-1 with a 1.20 ERA at Angelo State in 2023. He had 124 strikeouts in 104 2/3 innings. 

Jacob King (RHP, 22)
King was signed by the Twins after the 2023 college season. He spent four years at UC-Irvine, pitching solely in relief. He pitched in two games and 1 2/3 innings that season in the FCL. This year, he pitched in just one game and recorded two outs and walked three. He missed the early part of the season, pitched in that game, and then was on the IL the rest of the season. 

Devin Kirby (RHP, 25)
Kirby signed with the Twins after the 2023 college season. He had spent two seasons at U-Conn. The Twins saw that he threw a knuckleball, encouraged him to work on it and signed him. In 2023, he pitched in three games for the FCL Twins. This season, he pitched in 11 games for the FCL Twins before ending the season with six games at Fort Myers. Combined, he went 3-1 with a 3.55 ERA over 38 innings. He walked 18 and struck out 51 batters. 

 

Jack Noble (RHP, 24) 
Noble signed as an undrafted free agent following the 2022 season at Long Beach State. He pitched in just two games that year in the FCL. In 2023, he pitched three times in the FCL (1.72 ERA) and 10 games (9 starts) for Fort Myers (3.38 ERA). He began the 2024 season in Cedar Rapids, but by the first weekend, he moved up to Wichita where he pitched once and gave up one run in three innings. He spent most of the season in the Fort Myers bullpen where he went 8-2 with a 4.78 ERA over 58 1/3 innings. The highlight may have been his immaculate inning. 

Liam Rocha (RHP, 22) 
Rocha signed with the Twins after his 2023 season at California Baptist where he was teammates with fellow Twins prospects C.J. Culpepper and Spencer Bengard. He pitched twice for the FCL Twins in 2023. He made 10 appearances in the FCL this season, five starts and five relief appearances. He was 2-1 with a 4.30 ERA with a 1.71 WHIP in 29 1/3 innings. 

Danny De Andrade (SS, 20)
De Andrade is a legit prospect. The youngster signed from Venezuela in January of 2021. He had a solid debut in the DSL that season. In 2022, he came to the States and posted a .704 OPS in 48 games in the FCL. He moved up to Fort Myers in 2023 where he posted a .750 OPS in 105 games. He showed some pop with 21 doubles and 11 homers. The Twins promoted him to Cedar Rapids this year. Unfortunately, he played in just 29 games before his season came to an end with an ankle injury. De Andrade is young and has all the tools to be good, so getting him ABs will be important. 

Ben Ross (UT, 23)
Ross was the Twins fifth-round pick in 2022 out of Division II Notre Dame College in Ohio. He played 22 games in Fort Myers to end that season. In 2023, he played in 103 games for Cedar Rapids and hit .240 with 25 doubles and 19 home runs before ending the season with 10 games in Wichita. He spent the full season this year in Wichita and played 123 games. He struggled offensively the first half of the season, but was much improved as the season went along. He ended the year with a .212 batting average and a .626 OPS. He had 18 doubles, 11 homers and also stole 20 bases. Maybe as important, he is a really good defensive player, particularly in the infield. He remained in the lineup most days despite his offensive struggles, because of his defense.   

Kala'i Rosario (OF, 22)
Rosario played in the AFL last year. In fact, he and Aaron Sabato tied for the league lead in Home Runs, and Rosario was the winner of the Home Run contest. The Twins fifth-round pick in 2020 out of high school in Hawaii was the Midwest League MVP and led the league with 21 homers and 94 RBI in 2023. He moved up to Wichita this season. In 67 games, he hit .235/.321/.405 (.726) with 19 doubles and eight homers. He missed about three months of this season due to a fractured elbow. Fortunately, he came back late in the season and looks to be back to himself. 

Feel free to share your thoughts on the Twins contingent to the Arizona Fall League. We'll provide updates on them once the season gets started. 

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[ashbury]

F it. I'm still making the drive down.  😀

[Seth Stohs]

16 minutes ago, ashbury said:

F it. I'm still making the drive down.  😀

Totally worth it! 

[FlyingFinn]

Rosario, De Andrade, and Ross are the three that excite me. I especially want to see De Andrade hit, hopefully better than Noah Miller.

[jmlease1]

The hitters are fine choices. DeAndrade & Rosario need time at or around this level of competition because they missed so much time. Ross is getting a test to see if he can hit enough to make his glove play. I like it.

The pitchers all seem like a bunch of guys who might be getting sent to see if they can break out a little. Lotto time?

[DocBauer]

Feels like for the 2nd year in a row the FO is sending a couple good prospects to get some extra work and growth in, and the rest are all "meh" options to fill the roster.

I know it's more than that, and teams seldom send top arms. Still, the roster feels little unexciting. I'll definitely be watching Bragg closely. I had almost forgotten about him. The other arms seem to be auditioning for 2025, improve and take a step forward, or possibly not be included. Obviously hope for the best for all of them.

Rosario could use the extra work after missing so much time. Same for DeAndrade. Really hope this is an opportunity for Ross's bat to take a step up. He sure seems like an interesting prospect. 

[D.C Twins]

Yaaaaaaaawn....

[twinsfansd]

Rosario and De Andrade are Rule 5 eligible, so they are making final preparations for the 40-man roster.

[FlyingFinn]

54 minutes ago, twinsfansd said:

Rosario and De Andrade are Rule 5 eligible

Only Rosario is. De Andrade is December 2025 Rule 5 eligible.

[Seth Stohs]

Just as a personal opinion... I WANT to see as many of the prospects keep playing. If I was a front office person, I also wouldn't want to send my top pitching prospects to the AFL... Several of them already hit 100 innings. That's enough. 

[Fatbat]

I will forever be excited to see prospects play in the AFL.  Someday, Arizona will be my retirement destination and the AFL will be my daily entertainment!

[nclahammer]

Good to see Rosario and De Andrade get some more at bats and Ross is a good kid who can play just about anywhere.    With all those young arms, I guess they're just hoping something sticks.

[dxpavelka]

they can't all be winners

[Trov]

I would have loved to see Eeles get sent.  He for sure could have went over Ben Ross, now sure their thought there sending Ross.  I get Eeles is not a top prospect due to being undrafted, and tiny, but he climbed all way up to AAA and showed he can hit there. 

[DJL44]

17 hours ago, DocBauer said:

Really hope this is an opportunity for Ross's bat to take a step up. He sure seems like an interesting prospect. 

Everyone's bat should take a step up. There are several top 100 prospect position players but absolutely none among pitchers. Expect high scoring games as good hitters tee off on mediocre to poor pitching.

[DJL44]

13 hours ago, Seth Stohs said:

I also wouldn't want to send my top pitching prospects to the AFL... Several of them already hit 100 innings. That's enough. 

Pitchers are going to pitch year-round either in bullpen sessions or in games. There is no magic reset button that happens to innings when the calendar hits January 1. There is plenty of time between the end of the AFL and the beginning of the next season to recover.

15 minutes ago, Trov said:

I would have loved to see Eeles get sent.  He for sure could have went over Ben Ross, now sure their thought there sending Ross.  I get Eeles is not a top prospect due to being undrafted, and tiny, but he climbed all way up to AAA and showed he can hit there. 

They already know that Eeles can hit bad A-ball pitching. He has nothing to prove in the AFL.

[roger]

Thanks for the report, Seth.

Bit surprising seeing Rosario go for a second year.  Do you recall when that last happened?

The way they have been drafting college pitchers and bringing them along to be good prospects, gotta wonder who from this year's AFL group will be in that next group about to join the Twins.

Personally, considering how much time Jenkins missed, would have loved to see him go.  Any idea or inside information Seth on why he didn't?

[LambchoP]

I'm glad Rosario is going. He's had success there in the past and he looks like a legit hitter. With all the time they missed with injuries this year I wonder why Emmanuel Rodriguez and Walker Jenkins aren't going. You'd think it would be a good way to make up some of those missed at bats. Maybe Rodriguez is getting thumb surgery and they just want him and Jenkins to get healthy for spring training.

[saviking]

Kind of seems like a rehab assignment for a bunch of pitchers ..

[DJL44]

Here are the best pitching prospects in the AFL according to this article: 

Luinder Avila (Royals #26)

Eric Silva (Tigers #27)

Grant Taylor (White Sox #6)

Peyton Pallette (White Sox #27)

Jose Fleury (Astros #10)

Jimmy Joyce (Mariners #23)

Josh Stephan (Rangers #25)

Skylar Hayes (Rangers #28)

Adam Maier (Braves #17)

Hayden Harris (Braves #27)

Jun-Seok Shim (Marlins #27)

Wen-Hui Pan (Phillies #20)

Griff McGarry (Phillies #21)

Christian McGowan (Phillies #22)

Coleman Crow (Brewers #30)

Mike Burrows (Pirates #16)

Khristian Curtis (Pirates #27)

Connor Phillips (Reds #15)

Yu-Min Lin (Diamondbacks #7)

Dylan Ray (Diamondbacks #16)

Ryan Bergert (Padres #25) 

David Morgan (Padres #29)

Michael Prosecky (Rockies #17)

Gabriel Hughes (Rockies #22)

That's just 3 pitchers who are in their team's top 10 prospects and 9 in their team's top 20.

[Brett]

I was hoping for a few more innings for Connor Prielipp. That would have been fun to see.

[ashbury]

3 hours ago, DJL44 said:

Expect high scoring games as good hitters tee off on mediocre to poor pitching.

Goody.  I was disappointed not to see Austin Martin get tested when he played CF the last time I went; just a couple of can-o'-corn flies or routine singles dumped in front of him in that one game I saw. 

So this year I want to see Kala'i challenged to go back to the wall and leap, and then on the next batter come in on a humpback liner and decide whether to dive or play safe.  And of course to see Danny and Ben tested on hard smashes just barely within reach.  Can't judge much when the pitchers are striking out the side - hm, maybe there is method to all the respective front offices' madness?

[Steve Lein]

17 hours ago, Seth Stohs said:

Just as a personal opinion... I WANT to see as many of the prospects keep playing. If I was a front office person, I also wouldn't want to send my top pitching prospects to the AFL... Several of them already hit 100 innings. That's enough. 

To play devil's advocate... Cory Lewis is the perfect amount of AFL starts away from reaching 100 IP on the season. C.J. Culpepper wouldn't even come close to that with 5 or 6 AFL starts. Both of them have already thrown more innings in a season than they will this year. 😉

[Steve Lein]

3 hours ago, roger said:

Thanks for the report, Seth.

Bit surprising seeing Rosario go for a second year.  Do you recall when that last happened?

The way they have been drafting college pitchers and bringing them along to be good prospects, gotta wonder who from this year's AFL group will be in that next group about to join the Twins.

Personally, considering how much time Jenkins missed, would have loved to see him go.  Any idea or inside information Seth on why he didn't?

Max Kepler went there twice. So did Mitch Garver. Pretty sure I'm missing someone else off the top of my head, too.

[Steve Lein]

3 hours ago, LambchoP said:

I'm glad Rosario is going. He's had success there in the past and he looks like a legit hitter. With all the time they missed with injuries this year I wonder why Emmanuel Rodriguez and Walker Jenkins aren't going. You'd think it would be a good way to make up some of those missed at bats. Maybe Rodriguez is getting thumb surgery and they just want him and Jenkins to get healthy for spring training.

I would guess they're worried Rodriguez will hurt himself again, because he obviously wasn't good enough at any point this year to not injure himself again. So the rest and reset route.

I don't think you could find a more ideal time to send a guy like Jenkins. He's not even 20, but already touched double-A. And that's despite missing time, which is another reason for him to go.

I kind of expected to be disappointed, but they were both perfect candidates IMO.

[Mike Sixel]

Hoping both of those top guys are healthy and productive. Really want DeAndrade to succeed.....he seems like something they might be missing in the minors. That's not saying anything about others, btw...

[Linus]

1 hour ago, Mike Sixel said:

Hoping both of those top guys are healthy and productive. Really want DeAndrade to succeed.....he seems like something they might be missing in the minors. That's not saying anything about others, btw...

I agree about DeAndrade. He seems to be the best real SS prospect the Twins have and they are going to need one in a couple years. 

[nicksaviking]

23 hours ago, twinsfansd said:

Rosario and De Andrade are Rule 5 eligible, so they are making final preparations for the 40-man roster.

Or auditions for someone else......

[Mike Sixel]

5 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

Or auditions for someone else......

Seems unlikely they deal their best SS prospect, unless they believe Lee stays there as CC plays half the games over the next few years.

[nicksaviking]

23 hours ago, Seth Stohs said:

Just as a personal opinion... I WANT to see as many of the prospects keep playing. If I was a front office person, I also wouldn't want to send my top pitching prospects to the AFL... Several of them already hit 100 innings. That's enough. 

I don't even want to send my non-top pitching prospects. The non-top prospects are currently what's making up the best part of the MLB bullpen and good parts of the rotation. Sorry for the harshness, but save their innings for the spring; send in the cannon fodder.