Twins Add Pitchers Marco Raya, Travis Adams to 40-Man Roster, Leave Intriguing Prospects Eligible for Rule 5 Draft

[Seth Stohs]

The Twins selected two players from their minor-league system to add to their 40-man roster. Right-handed pitchers Marco Raya and Travis Adams were added to the roster, protecting them from being selected in the Rule 5 draft next month. 

Image courtesy of Ed Bailey (Wichita photos), Seth Stohs (Olivar photo)

Every year, the Minnesota Twins add some players to their 40-man roster in order to protect them from being eligible for the Rule 5 draft in December. Each and every year, we as fans panic about who was left off of the 40-man roster and therefore could be lost to another organization. This year's selections will again create both scenarios.

Let's start with the positive. The Minnesota Twins selected two right-handed pitchers and added their to the 40-man roster. They added Marco Raya and Travis Adams who both ended their season with the St. Paul Saints after spending most of the season with the Double-A Wichita Wind Surge. 

Marco Raya was the Twins fourth-round draft pick in the Covid-shortened 2020 draft. Since then, he has missed some time with arm issues but never significant enough for surgery. And when he has pitched, he has been very good. In 24 starts for the Wind Surge this year, he went 3-4 with a 4.27 ERA and a 1.38 WHIP. In 92 2/3 innings, he had 44 walks and 99 strikeouts. When the Surge season ended, he made one more start, his Triple-A debut. In that game, he worked five innings and did not allow a run. He gave up five hits, walked none and had four strikeouts. 

Raya is very young. He has been treated with kid gloves, and that has him on the brink of the big leagues. He was limited each of the past two years to just 50 or 60 pitches most outings. In his 25 starts, he threw exactly 70 pitches twice. In four other starts, he surpassed 60 pitches. As he continues to mature, those numbers could increase. The Twins were cautious with Bailey Ober in the minor leagues and into the big leagues, and that strategy appears to have worked with him. Also, as the game continues to change, it's possible that they will just look for him to throw 60-70 pitches every four or five days in a newfangled way of getting through nine innings every day. 

The other addition is right-hander Travis Adams. He was the Twins sixth-round pick in 2021 out of Sacramento State where he was known for his pinpoint control. He spent all of 2023 in Wichita where he went 4-10 with a 5.66 ERA and a 1.47 WHIP. In 109 2/3 innings, he gave up 118 hits, 43 walks and had 97 strikeouts. He remained in Wichita in 2024. He made 19 starts and worked out of the bullpen three times. He went 5-7 with a much-improved 3.67 ERA and 1.14 WHIP. Over 108 innings, he gave up 95 hits, 28 walks and recorded 109 strikeouts. He finished the season with four games (3 starts) in St. Paul. The 24-year old went 0-2 with a 5.21 ERA. 

Adams numbers are fairly pedestrian, but he does fit a mold for Twins pitchers. Since the draft, he has added significant velocity. He is now hitting 97 mph fairly regularly even as a starter. He also has solid breaking pitches and a willingness to adapt and be coachable and try out new pitches. He still has very good control. He also had one really big Save during spring training this year.   

Who Was Left Unprotected?
As mentioned, many will spend far too many hours worrying about which players will be lost in the Rule 5 draft. There are certainly a few players that should or could have a chance to be selected. It just takes one team to have interest. 

The first name that most people will mention is Kala'i Rosario. The Twins fifth-round pick in 2020 out of Hawaii, he has incredible light-tower power. He missed two months this season with an elbow injury but certainly held his own at Double-A Wichita. The 22-year old hit .235/.321/.405 (.726) with 19 doubles and eight homers in 67 games for the Wind Surge. He did have 91 strikeouts in 299 plate appearances, so there is plenty of swing-and-miss. He he two home runs in his two rehab games before returning to the Surge. He then returned to the Arizona Fall League and hit .291/.383/.430 (.813) with a triple and three homers for the AFL champion Salt River Rafters. He is Twins Daily's #13 Twins prospect. 

There was some minimal concern about losing now-23-year-old Ricardo Olivar in the Rule 5 draft a year ago after the catcher-slash-outfielder had a breakout season in Fort Myers. He spent most of the 2024 season in Cedar Rapids. In 81 games, he hit .287/.393/.473 (.867) with 17 doubles, three triples, and 11 home runs. He earned a late-season promotion to Double-A Wichita. In 19 games, he hit .224/.325/.299 (.623) with two doubles and a homer. In his second game with the Wind Surge, he went 5-for-5 with two doubles. So you won't want to look at his numbers over those final 17 games, but Olivar has offensive potential. Defensively, he is solid behind the plate. He is also a good athlete... for a catcher. Yes, he has played some left field. He catches what he gets to, and obviously has a strong arm. He isn't likely to get a lot of playing time in the outfield in the big leagues. He returned to the Twins Daily Top 20 after this season at that #20 spot.

Another catcher left unprotected is Patrick Winkel.  The 24-year-old was the Twins ninth-round pick in 2021 out of Connecticut. Very solid behind the plate, but he hit just .228/.380/.362 (.642) with 16 doubles and seven homers in 78 games for the Saints this year. 

And there is also a trio of lefties that could be lost if the right (or wrong?) team is interested. They are all a little different. First, Jovani Moran has already shown what he can do in the big leagues when he is healthy. He came off of the Twins 40-man roster a year ago about this time and we learned he had Tommy John surgery. He could be ready around Opening Day to contribute. Could a team take a shot?

Christian MacLeod was the Twins fifth-round pick in 2021 out of Mississippi State. He is a starting pitcher with solid pitches all around. He doesn't throw real hard, but he had a nice return to the mound in 2024 after coming back from Tommy John surgery in 2022. He began his season with 12 starts in Cedar Rapids. He went 3-1 with a 2.77 ERA and had 58 strikeouts in 48 2/3 innings. He moved up to Wichita where he was 1-2 with a 3.72 ERA in eight games (7 starts). He had 44 strikeouts in 38 2/3 innings. He made one spot-start for the Saints and gave up four earned runs in five innings but did have five strikeouts. Overall, he had an impressive 107 strikeouts in 92 1/3 innings, but he also had 46 walks. 

Jaylen Nowlin was the Twins 19th round pick in 2021 out of Chipola College. The 23-year-old lefty is blessed with a mid-90s fastball. He pitched in 21 games for Double-A Wichita this year and went 5-7 with a 4.67 ERA and 1.43 WHIP. In 96 1/3 innings, he had 97 strikeouts, but he had 48 walks. He also ended the season at St. Paul where he had two innings pitched over three appearances. When he's throwing strikes and forcing contact, he had more success. In a mid-June start, he gave up just one hit over eight scoreless innings. He had just four strikeouts but walked none. He needed just 84 pitches. Many believe his future is more likely in the bullpen. 

Who am I missing? Did the Twins protect the right players? The right amount of players? Who else might the Twins lose in the Rule 5 draft? Or, are you not worried at all? Remember, not only would a player need to be selected by another organization, but he would need to be offered back to the Twins if he doesn't stick with that team's big-league club all season. 

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[D.C Twins]

I'm neither worried about losing any of the unprotected players nor concerned if we do.  

[Mike Sixel]

6 minutes ago, D.C Twins said:

I'm neither worried about losing any of the unprotected players nor concerned if we do.  

Right. Can't keep them all. 

[nicksaviking]

I'd guess if anyone is taken, it's Moran. The MLB experience will help, but we've also seen teams take players who they were able to shelve on the IR. My dark horse is Will Holland as utility guys are the easiest to stash.

I don't see any team picking and using a 26-man spot all year for a catcher. That's just asking for roster trouble.

But I doubt anyone is claimed and I agree with the rest, I'm not worried if they are. 

[cheeseheadgophfan]

I forgot about Moran....he had some dominant stretches as a reliever....he's also had stretches where he can't throw strikes.  He's an interesting piece to fill the left-handed reliever role....

[Dman]

I think it was good to hang onto Adams as a pen arm.  He improved quite a bit last year and they might as well give him a shot.

Raya was a sure thing to be added no surprise there.

I don't see Rosario as MLB ready especially with his K rate, but given their lack of right handed outfielders and Rosario's power potential I thought they would add him.  I guess if some team would take a chance and they would lose him they have Keaschal in that spot anyway so they can afford to live dangerously.  It's hard for teams to carry Rule V bats all year so it makes sense they didn't add him I just thought they might.

Olivar couldn't handle AA pitching and until recently I never heard about him even being good behind the plate.  He always seemed to be pegged as a slightly below average receiver. I think that was a good no add.  Odds are he might not be ready even at the end of next year anyway.  He has a good eye and solid contact to this point but AA is a major step and we saw what happened to Schobel, Ross and Cardenas their first year there.  The catchers that get taken in Rule V tend to be elite defenders.  I don't see Olivar as one of those.

Also interesting on Moran.  I assume his fastball still isn't up to par for them to keep him off.  He has an elite changeup though and he is a lefty so I thought he was a pretty certain add, but I have no insight into his recovery so they must not like him enough just yet.

I think they made good choices.  I like what they did for the most part.

[stringer bell]

I believe the Twins are up to 37 on the 40-man roster, which leaves room to claim a Rule V guy and also offer a major league contract to someone that might not be offered by other organizations. 

[PatPfund]

Not worried at all, and curious if the Twins might be active on the claiming side this year. Moran might get grabbed, but while I remember some dominant outings, he could follow 3 Ks with 4 BB in a heartbeat (and as I remember it, his minor league control numbers were worse than his MLB outings).

[Danchat]

Interesting, Nick had 10% odds on Adams getting protected, but now that I further examine the numbers I can see the logic behind it. He was solid his second time around in Wichita, and with his stuff hitting 97 MPH, I could also see him being a weapon if converted to the pen. And he's actually been durable, unlike a good chunk of our pitching prospects!

I get not protecting Rosario, he could get claimed in a Baddoo-like situation but I think he's a year away from needing to be added. Methinks Olivar is also a year away.

I don't see the worry with losing Moran, I'm surprised he wasn't a minor league free agent. He could have been claimed on waivers when he was outrighted. Not a big deal at all if we lose him, though they need to start adding lefty relievers in this organization. For that reason, it'd be nice to keep MacLeod.

[ryan189]

2 minutes ago, Danchat said:

Interesting, Nick had 10% odds on Adams getting protected, but now that I further examine the numbers I can see the logic behind it. He was solid his second time around in Wichita, and with his stuff hitting 97 MPH, I could also see him being a weapon if converted to the pen. And he's actually been durable, unlike a good chunk of our pitching prospects!

I get not protecting Rosario, he could get claimed in a Baddoo-like situation but I think he's a year away from needing to be added. Methinks Olivar is also a year away.

I don't see the worry with losing Moran, I'm surprised he wasn't a minor league free agent. He could have been claimed on waivers when he was outrighted. Not a big deal at all if we lose him, though they need to start adding lefty relievers in this organization. For that reason, it'd be nice to keep MacLeod.

10 percent shows these guys have no clue what's really going on

[Parfigliano]

1 hour ago, Mike Sixel said:

Right. Can't keep them all. 

The trick is keeping the right one's which is not an easy trick.

[DocBauer]

Of course Raya was a given.

Guess I'm not surprised by Adams. Velocity is up, slider is reportedly much better, and someone would have probably grabbed him for their pen. Probably pitch there for the Twins there sometime this season. 

I don't think Rosario is ready and he'd be hard to stash.

This tells me Olivar is still a catcher mostly in name only and just not ready. Strong arm? Maybe. But 13% caught stealing isn't going to get it done. This time next year he might have to be protected, but not now.

I've still got hope for Moran, but with questions about control AND coming off TJ, I'll bet he's safe. Macleod at AA and not throwing overly hard might keep him safe this go around. I'm a little worried about someone snagging Nowlin. A hard throwing lefty with good K numbers might be really tempting to someone to stash, even if he's not ready yet.

 

[mikelink45]

I will judge this after two more years.  Rule V is not a quick win or lose. 

[dxpavelka]

I don't see Babe Ruth and Willie Mays on the unprotected list.

 

[stringer bell]

33 minutes ago, dxpavelka said:

I don't see Babe Ruth and Willie Mays on the unprotected list.

 

Or Johan Santana or Roberto Clemente. 

[DJL44]

They must think Adams will be worth using in the bullpen next season. If he's on the roster he'll get some innings. He didn't make the recent Twins Daily top 30 prospect list.

I'm way more interested in what other teams are getting rid of than what the Twins left exposed. The Guardians let Connor Gillispie go and he's as interesting as Adams.. 

[Russ]

Adding only 2 to the 40 man roster doesn't show much of the farm system.  Hopefully some of the before mentioned players, don't get lost.

[Dman]

3 minutes ago, Russ said:

Adding only 2 to the 40 man roster doesn't show much of the farm system.  Hopefully some of the before mentioned players, don't get lost.

There normally are more guys to worry about but with only 5 rounds in the Covid draft of 2020 where they grabbed high schoolers Raya and Rosario they only added Raya.  They also pretty much traded away the high draft picks in the 2021 draft (i.e their first 5 picks in Petty, Miller, Hajjar, Povich and CES).  If they still had those players there would be more players to add. Also Festa was added earlier in the season as was Lee, and Matthews.  They have added plenty of guys from the farm even before Rule V.

So the farm is healthy they just added some guys early and traded away some of their talent so fewer players were needed to be added this year.

[TopGunn#22]

I don't think Moran is much of a risk.  I can't imagine anyone adding him with the "hope" that he will be ready for spring training.  I think teams want more certainty.

I'm with DJL44, I'm really more interested in who the Twins might have an interest in now that all the names are out there.  I'm not knowledgeable enough to know who would be someone to go after.  Maybe TD will have a quick follow up with a list of 5 players who could be interesting targets.  If there are any interesting catchers I would think that's a no-brainer.  Or possibly a 1B.  

[Seth Stohs]

1 hour ago, Russ said:

Adding only 2 to the 40 man roster doesn't show much of the farm system.  Hopefully some of the before mentioned players, don't get lost.

Maybe, but they did call up Keirsey and Helman in September, and both of them could fill utility-type roles in 2025. David Festa would have been added today, but he got called up earlier. Zebby Matthews wouldn't have to be protected until next offseason, but they didn't hold him back. 

[dxpavelka]

2 hours ago, Russ said:

Adding only 2 to the 40 man roster doesn't show much of the farm system.  Hopefully some of the before mentioned players, don't get lost.

generally not to many guys taken.  the real action takes place on the minor league portion.

[old nurse]

9 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

I will judge this after two more years.  Rule V is not a quick win or lose. 

Whitlock might be the one of the few recent picks that worked but injuries are derailing him 

[old nurse]

8 hours ago, Russ said:

Adding only 2 to the 40 man roster doesn't show much of the farm system.  Hopefully some of the before mentioned players, don't get lost.

The around 20 pre arb players on the roster would show much for the farm system 

[Jeff K]

I am a bit surprised that Moran wasn't added; however, the Twins certainly know how he is progressing.  Not protecting him seems like he may not have made appropriate progress.

[Trov]

The decision to add or not is not based on if you think they will eventually become an MLB player or contribute there, but will a team be willing to take them from you having to use a 26 man roster spot.  Rule 5 picks are commonly pitchers with high upside that normally do not have a 2nd pitch yet.  They can be stashed at back of pen.  Sounds like Adams is in that roll.  

The position players that were left off may be taken by a fully rebuilding team, A's or White Sox come to mind.  They may take someone hoping that the player can grow at the MLB level.  However, there is reason they were left off because the team does not think they are MLB ready nor will be for at least a full year or two. 

I have a feeling Rosario's shoulder is still bothering him.  His K rate is up and power is down over the last year.  Not a good combo for a hitter. 

[LambchoP]

Rosario and Olivar are probably safe as they both haven't played much above AA. I think they made the right moves as far as 40 man protection. I forgot Moran was still around. Hopefully he can come to spring training fully healthy and be one of the lefties we need. I still think we need to sign a LHRP with a good track record, but if Moran can put it together like Alcala did this year, our pen starts to look pretty solid.

[twinzcynic]

Given this front office's track record of being geniuses when it comes to properly evaluating players within the organization (names that include Lamonte Wade, Rooker, Gil to name a few examples), I have every confidence that they chose the correct players to protect/expose.

[saviking]

I'm disappointed we didn't protect Richardo Olivar, but maybe he's young enough that no one will want to put him on their 25-man roster yet. The question is, will we pick someone

[jmlease1]

I think part of what we're seeing is that it's difficult to take a position player in the Rule 5 draft with almost every team running a 13 man bench for position players in MLB. Unless your Rule 5 selection can come in and play at least some fairly early you're putting your squad in a bad position. Pitchers are much more likely to get taken if someone is in AA or AAA, might have some utility in the bullpen, and could serve as the 8th guy.

Winkel could get taken by a team who doesn't like their choices for a backup catcher and has nothing in AAA, but it seems unlikely. Olivar was a guy I was worried about a bad team taking and trying to stash for a season to send him back to the minors next season, but he's probably too far away from being ready to contribute especially since his catching skills need work. I thought they might protect Rosario, but since he's never played above AA, is a poor defender, and K-prone, it would probably be tough for a team to hang on to him for the full season on the 26 man.

Nowlin might get grabbed; I would definitely go there if I wasn't a contending team: he's left handed with some upside and could float in the bullpen all year for a bad team (CWS?) while the staff works on his stuff, command, etc and sends him back down next season. But he's probably behind Festa, Matthews, Lewis, Raya, Adams, and Morris in the starting pitching pecking order so it's probably not a great loss if someone takes a flier on him.

[jmlease1]

33 minutes ago, LambchoP said:

Rosario and Olivar are probably safe as they both haven't played much above AA. I think they made the right moves as far as 40 man protection. I forgot Moran was still around. Hopefully he can come to spring training fully healthy and be one of the lefties we need. I still think we need to sign a LHRP with a good track record, but if Moran can put it together like Alcala did this year, our pen starts to look pretty solid.

Moran is an interesting case, but he's also got a bigger contract, correct? Maybe a team would try to grab him in the Rule 5, put him on the 16-man and then send him to the 60-day IL at the start of the year? But it still occupies a precious 26-man slot at a tight time of year with a player that isn't going to contribute. I think it will be tough for a team to take a player with a history of wildness coming off a major injury to slot into the 26-man.