Twins Daily's Top 20 Minnesota Twins Prospects: Who Just Missed the List?

[Seth Stohs]

Over the next couple of weeks, we will be counting down our Top 20 Twins Prospects. Today, we'll discuss 10 other players who received votes but fell just outside of the Top 20. 

Image courtesy of David Malamut (@MWLArchives on X) - photo of Rayne Doncon

 

In the past, we have always waited until about February to update the Twins Daily Top 20 prospect rankings. However, there is no reason to wait until there to update our lists. This list contains players added to the organization (mostly from the draft) in the season's second half. We have also been able to see some of those 2024 draft picks make their (limited) professional debuts. We have likely read much more on the players selected. We also have more information on players who have been in the organization a little longer.

Of course, several players also come off of our previous rankings due to graduation. Ultimately, the goal is to get these players to the big leagues and to be ready when they get there. This list is different in large part because three of the top seven prospects come off of the list. Brooks Lee, Zebby Matthews and David Festa come off the list as they have surpassed rookie limits in 2024. 

With the offseason now fully underway, several players are now out of the organization as minor league-free agents. For instance, the following players became free agents for the first time in their careers: pitchers Regi Grace, Miguel Rodriguez, Danny Moreno, Rafael Marcano, Gabriel Yanez, catchers Chris Williams and Wilfri Castro, and outfielders Agustin Ruiz and Carlos Aguiar. In addition, the Twins signed first baseman Rixon Wingrove days after the Phillies released him in late May. He had originally signed with Philadelphia in 2018 from Australia. 

The Twins could bring some of them back, as they did with lefty Samuel Perez. If they sign back with the Twins, they can be eligible for this list again. 

But you want to see which 10 players fell just outside of our top 20. Let's do that. 

Who is Next?
In the case that someone from the Top 20 gets traded, or is otherwise unable to fulfill his duties, who would fill that #20 spot? Well, surprisingly, this is actually not a singular answer.

In the voting, first baseman Yunior Severino came in at #21. In 2023, he hit a minor-league leading 35 home runs between Double-A and Triple-A. He spent the full season at St. Paul in 2024. He started out very slow, but in 128 total games, he hit .254/.342/.434 (.775) with 21 doubles and 21 home runs. However, he also had 154 strikeouts in 565 plate appearances (27.3%). Last week, the Twins took him off of their 40-man roster. He went unclaimed and was outrighted to St. Paul. Because he originally signed with Atlanta way back in July of 2016, he was able to become a free agent and did just that. 

So, our actual #21 is going to be infielder Rayne Doncon. The 21-year-old came to the Twins from the Dodgers last offseason, along with Manuel Margot, in exchange for shortstop prospect Noah Miller. The Dominican started the season with Fort Myers. In 38 games, he hit .283/.374/.464 (.838). Soon after an IL stint, he moved up to Cedar Rapids where, in 56 games, he hit .235/.320/.410 (.730). Combined, he hit 24 doubles, three triples, and 11 home runs. 

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Prospect Story of the Year 
Payton Eeles went from unknown, early-season, minor-league signing from an independent league, a placeholder needed, in part, because the Twins have been very pitcher-heavy in recent drafts. Eeles has an incredible story. The 5-5 infielder spent four years at Division II Cedarville University (Ohio). As a graduate senior, he chose to attend Division I Coastal Carolina where he hit .374/.500/.492 (.992) with 17 doubles and four homers. Yet, he again went undrafted. He spent that summer with the American Association's Chicago Dogs. He began the 2024 season with the Atlantic League's Southern Maryland Blue Crabs but after just six games, the Twins signed him.   

 

 He began at Fort Myers and, in 34 games, he hit .331/.448/.517 (.965). He earned a promotion to High-A Cedar Rapids and hit .275/.473/.425 (.898) in just 13 games. At that point, the Twins had several injuries and needed to take several infielders from the Saints. Eeles was moved direct to Triple-A, presumably just to help fill the lineup with solid defense and competent plate appearance until reinforcements arrived (either back from the Twins or in minor-league trades). However, Eeles played so well that he kept himself in the lineup nearly every day, often hitting at the top of the lineup. In 64 Saints games, he hit .299/.419/.500 (.919). Combined, in 111 games, he hit .307/.435/.497 (.932) with 19 doubles, eight triples, 12 homers and 60 RBI. He also was 41-for-51 in stolen base attempts. 

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One year ago at this time, Payton Eeles was trying to find a team to play for, likely in an independent league. As of right now, he finds himself a 40-man roster spot and one call away from the big leagues. What a story! And, to be fair to our voters and others who rank prospects... if we're being honest, it's hard to know exactly where he should be ranked. With Severino removed from the rankings, we currently have Eeles at #22. 

Prospect Story of the Year 2
Eeles and Carson McCusker are very different players. Eeles stands 5-5 while McCusker measures in at 6-8. Eeles has elite on-base skills and plus speed. McCusker has elite power (and some of the best exit velocities in minor-league baseball). Eeles is a line-drive, contact hitter. McCusker strikes out a lot, but did we mention he crushes baseballs when he does make contact? 

McCusker was drafted in the 26th round pick of the Milwaukee Brewers in 2017 out of Folsom Lake College. Instead of signing, he chose to play for Robin Ventura at Oklahoma State where his hitting coach was Matt Holliday for a couple of years. Despite a solid college career, he went undrafted. He played for for Tri-City in the independent Frontier League in 2021, 2022, and that is where he began the 2023 season. Upon joining the organization, he went to Fort Myers for 25 games and hit seven homers. In 21 games in Cedar Rapids, he hit another seven home runs. McCusker ranks #28.   

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He began the 2024 season at Double-A Wichita. In 98 games, he hit .281/.357/.489 (.846) with 26 doubles and 15 home runs. He earned a late-season promotion to St. Paul where he hit .286/.337/.484 (.820) with four doubles and four homers in 24 games. Overall, he had 150 strikeouts in 518 plate appearances (29.0%). With his height, the obvious player comp is former Brewers All Star Richie Sexson who hit a lot of homers and struck out a lot. If he have a similar career. Granted, Sexson debuted at 22 years old while McCusker signed with the Twins in his age 25 season. 

Finally...
DaShawn Keirsey set single-season Saints records in hits, triples, and RBI. He showed on base skills and he hit for power. All the while, he has played tremendous defense in center field. In September, he finally got The Call. He played in just six games, he had a couple of great defensive plays and in the final game of the season, he launched his first big-league home run. He comes in as the #27 Twins prospect. Maybe it is because he turned 27 in May. Or maybe it is, in part, because he is viewed as a #4 outfield, mostly a defensive specialist and pinch running option, but his 2024 season should show that he is potentially capable of being more if needed. 

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Don't Forget About Me...
I believe. I still believe. I believe that Matt Canterino will still have a very good major-league career. Sure, with health, maybe he would have been able to debut by age 24. Instead, Canterino has throw just 85 innings in professional baseball since signing in 2019 after being the Twins second-round pick out of Rice University. When he has pitched, he has been dominant. In 2021, he had 43 strikeouts in just 21 innings. In 2022, he had a combined 54 strikeouts in 37 innings. When he got some opportunities to pitch in spring training 2024 games, he dominated.   

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However, injuries have cost him a lot of time. He missed much of the 2021 season rehabbing. In 2022, they tried a plan of slowly increasing his innings - similar to what they have done with Marco Raya. Unfortunately, his arm still wasn't right and late in that summer, he had Tommy John which cost him the 2023 season as well. He looked ready to go this spring, hitting 97 with the fastball and showing potentially-dominant secondary pitches. Unfortunately, late in spring training, his shoulder bothered him, so they slowed down his return. A nagging shoulder strain lasted through most of the season. No, he didn't have surgery, and he again heads into the offseason healed and ready and excited for spring training.  Maybe he won't become a top-of-rotation starter, but he can certainly still become a dominant back-of-the-bullpen option. He will spent the entire 2025 season at age 27. Maybe there is a potential mid-season call up, and he can figure out a way to stay healthy in the bullpen for six years, or more. We can hope. I will hope. For now, he remains in our Top 30, sitting at #26. 

We've Seen That Name Before...
Outfielder Jose Rodriguez arrived on the Twins seen in January of 2022 when he signed from the Dominican Republic. He made his pro debut that summer in the Dominican Summer League where, in 55 games, he hit .290/.361/.605 (.966) with 15 doubles, three triples and 13 home runs. After the showing, he showed up on several Twins Top 20 lists. He came to the States as an 18-year-old in 2023. In 49 games, he hit .262/.325/.412 (.737) with 10 doubles and six home runs. Not great, but certainly more than held his own. He showed the Twins  brass enough that they pushed him up to Low-A Fort Myers in 2024. In 43 games, he struggled and hit just .178/.235/.319 (.554) with eight doubles and five home runs. He missed most of June, all of July and half of August with an injury. But he did still have some really exciting moments, and he's still got a ton of potential. 

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A Right-Handed Luis Arraez?
The Twins signed infielder Dameury Pena in January of 2023. He debuted that summer in the DSL where he hit .382/.453/.496 (.949) with eight doubles and three triples in 39 games as a 17-year-old. He came to the States in 2024 and in 36 FCL games, he hit .282/.386/.410 (.796) with four doubles, a triple and three home runs. Over his two seasons, he has 33 walks and just 18 strikeouts. Pena is a line-drive, whole-field hitter who has a knack for finding barrels. Again, he held his own in his transition to the States and should get the opportunity to join the Mussels in 2025. 

Ending the Season Strong! 
The Twins signed shortstop Daiber De Los Santos in January to a bonus just shy of $1.9 million, the highest by the Twins in 2024. The Dominican turned 18 in early October. He made his pro debut in the DSL this year. In 47 games, he hit .301/.384/.460 (.844) with 11 doubles, a triple, and five home runs. Of course, the further from the big leagues a player is, the less stats matter and the more tools and potential will be mentioned. De Los Santos has the tools. He was signed as a shortstop, and that's where he made 39 of his 47 starts. He played three games each at second base, third base and in center field. He's got the speed, the range, the arm. He had 15 errors, but a .912 fielding percentage at shortstop in the DSL is encouraging. Offensively, you can see the average. He showed solid on-base skills in his pro debut, and he hit with a bit of pop. All encouraging, but obviously there's a long way to go.   

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On the season, he had 14 multi-hit games. Seven came in just 12 games played in September. He ended the season with an eight-game hitting streak and had multiple hits in six of the last seven games. In the team's second-to-last (penultimate, if you prefer) game, he went 3-for-5. In the season's final game, he went 5-for-5 to put his batting average over .300 for the season. He crushed left-handed pitching, hitting .405 (1.193) off of them. His OPS in those 12 August games was 1.070 with a .431 average. The sky is the limit. He ranks #24. 

We Hardly Know Ye
In the second round of the 2024 MLB draft, the Minnesota Twins selected third baseman Billy Amick out of the University of Tennessee. A South Carolina native, he stayed in-state and went to Clemson to begin his college career. In 2022, he played in just nine games as a freshman. He came back for his sophomore season in 2023 and in 46 games he hit .413/.464/.773 (1.236) with 17 doubles, two triples, and 13 home runs. 

For his junior season, he transferred to the University of Tennessee. In 65 games, he hit .306/.387/.639 (1.026) with 14 doubles and 23 home runs. He helped lead the Volunteers to the 2024 College World Series championship. 

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After signing with the Twins, he played in 18 games for the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels. He hit .222/.351/.413 (.763) with three doubles and three home runs. He went on the Injured List for the final week of the season. Not an overly impressive debut, but 18 games at the end of the season after not playing for a month or so are pretty meaningless to the big picture. The assumption is that Amick will start 2025 in Cedar Rapids. He should hit in the middle of their lineup and provide a ton of power, doubles and homers. He came in at #23 in our rankings. 

So there you have it, a quick look at the 10 Twins prospects who received votes but fell outside of the Top 20. Again, Yunior Severino would have been #21, but he is currently a free agent. 

#29: 2B Dameury Pena, #28: Carson McCusker, #27: OF DaShawn Keirsey, #26: RHP Matt Canterino, #25: OF Jose Rodriguez, #24: SS Daiber De Los Santos, #23: 3B Billy Amick, #22: IF Payton Eeles, #21: IF Rayne Doncon. 

Please feel free to discuss these players and ask any questions you like. 

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[tony&rodney]

Fun list and good article to read for those of us who follow the minors. Eeles looks almost too good to ignore. Because I have seen him so few times (less than ten), I will defer to others. I do wonder if he can just be slipped into the hole at second base.

I have watched Carson McCusker a fair bit and it seems like this guy makes adjustments about as well as any very tall person who plays baseball. MLB pitchers would quickly attack his weaknesses but his ability to quickly learn how milb pitchers were attempting to retire him in the last two years could possibly translate. McCusker is a beast and his line drives render baseballs as unusable former spheres; he crushes the ball. I am excited to see how 2025 goes for Carson and hope he gets a shot somewhere, some time.

[bean5302]

I think Eeles had an impressive run in AAA. At a glance, there's nothing which stands out as unsustainable, and he didn't have any slumps. July was wRC+ 120, August was wRC+ 140, and Sept was wRC+ 170. He took 12.7% BBs and he didn't K a lot at 14.6%.

The batted ball profile (which is a little sketchy in the minors) is odd though. Line drive rate dropped to 19.9% at AAA, where his 50.6% ground ball rate was pretty extreme. The 29.5% fly ball rate also came with a very high 17.3% pop up rate. Then there was the weird avoidance of balls hit up the middle. Everything was either pulled or oppo. 40% pull / 20% center / 40% oppo is pretty wild.

He's an odd one for sure, but he grades out pretty well defensively from the metrics I have, and he certainly torched pitchers as a 24 year old legit prospect.

[Otaknam]

I love Eeles putting himself on the prospect list. If he establishes himself as a big leaguer, that would be a great story that even the East and west coast focused media could not ignore. It seems like Kiersey should be higher on this list, given his offensive production, speed, and defensive skills. I look for him to make the 26 man roster in 2026. His only negative is his age and that he hits left handed, and the team has plenty of lefty hitting outfielders. 

[LambchoP]

I think Eeles could be exactly what this team needs this year. An exciting fast player who plays with energy and intensity. If he hits well enough it will be nice to have a true stolen base threat on the base paths. I'm a bit surprised that they let Severino go, given our hole at first base. Maybe the resign him to a minor league deal and hope for a big season in 2025?

[Fatbat]

Nice mix of young and really young prospects. If we eventually get 1/2 MLB regulars from this list its a win! 3/4 would be lottery type winning. Along with that, a temporary place sitter is most likely.  We will see 1 or 2 in MLB ‘25 if the injury bug bites hard again. Hopefully not. 

[DocBauer]

Eeles is probably the best story here. The fact he performed so well, for the entire season, at 3 levels, and shows not only a good eye but the valuable bat to ball skill seems to indicate he might be a legitimate prospect. I can understand him being outside the top 20 at this time though. Were I in charge. I'd bring him to ST as a non roster invite to get a better look at him.

Wouldn't it be something if McCusker could make enough contact to be a real asset? I want to see a little more sustained production at AAA, and at least a little better contact before I'm willing to have real hope. ML pitchers are just so good I can see him being exploited with his strike zone and fairly high K rate. But he absolutely should be on this list.

I don't know what else there is to say about Keirsey many of us haven't said before already. He was a #4 pick by this very FO, struggled a little early, then missed 2020, and has been putting up very good numbers each of the past 3 years.  But for unknown and frustrating reasons, he's been constantly passed over for the Margot's of the world. Why? Because he's a LH batter? That's a good thing! Unless he's just bad at the plate, I believe he's the #2 CF in 2025, plays some corner OF to rest guys or be a late defensive sub, and a PR.

I wasn't crazy about Amick as a possible #1 selection in the last draft, but like his potential where he was picked. I've seen very little of his play at 3B, but I've read he's worked hard to be decent there. I can't help but think his road to MLB might be at 1B, where the Twins really have no-one at this point in the system. While he's known as a free swinger, the fact that he's still hit for a good AVG and has maintained a pretty good OB% tells me the ability is there to reign in that nature some. He does that, with his power, he could be a hot prospect in no time. MLB in 2026?

I don't know that I believe in Canterino any longer, but I do have some remaining hope. I had thought he had a small shoulder procedure this past season, so glad to hear it wasn't that serious. And definitely a positive his elbow was OK following TJ. At this stage and age, and so many injuries and setbacks...not to mention system depth...I think it's obvious he needs a move to the pen permanently. With his elbow fixed and his shoulder rested/rehabbed, is there any chance his body FINALLY cooperates? He could be really nice depth later in the season.

Doncon had a nice season coming over from the Dodgers. Something good might still come out of that trade.

Betting J Rodriguez has a similar 2nd stateside season similar to Mercedes, who really took off in 2024. 

 

[Senior Softball Guy]

I love me some Payton Eeles. Little guys play with big chips on their shoulders! He makes things happen which was sorely missing from the big league club this year! 

 

[Rosterman]

It's interesting is that three of these guys could see major league action this season. One pitcher, an infielder and an outfielder who would be next in-line if a corresponding roster spot opened up.

[DJL44]

8 minutes ago, Rosterman said:

It's interesting is that three of these guys could see major league action this season. One pitcher, an infielder and an outfielder who would be next in-line if a corresponding roster spot opened up.

Plus Michael Helman who doesn't make the list at all.

[Mike Sixel]

Good stuff, thanks Seth.

[HerbieFan]

I'm going to bang this drum until proven wrong.  Move Canterino to the bullpen and see if that allows him to stay healthy.

[DJL44]

1 hour ago, HerbieFan said:

I'm going to bang this drum until proven wrong.  Move Canterino to the bullpen and see if that allows him to stay healthy.

Last year he was "cleared for 100 innings" and wasn't able to step onto the field at all.

[twinstalker]

Yunior Severino isn't a prospect.  He's a career minor leaguer some org, maybe ours, will be kind to at the end of the year and call him up like they did Hellman and will drop him off the 40 immediately.  That's best case for YS.