Twins 2025 Prospect Previews: Kyle DeBarge

[Jamie Cameron]

Spring training is around the corner. It’s time to get reacquainted with the Twins' 2024 MLB Draft class ahead of their first full season of professional baseball. Today, that means breaking down the sparkplug of a college infielder the team took with the 33rd overall pick last summer.

Image courtesy of Image courtesy of William Parmeter

Draft Context, Scouting, and Signing
Kyle DeBarge and Sonny Gray will always be connected: The Twins selected DeBarge with the 33rd overall pick in the 2024 draft, a compensatory selection awarded after Gray declined the qualifying offer and signed with the St. Louis Cardinals.

DeBarge, a Louisiana-Lafayette standout, signed for $2.4 million (slot value: $2.77 million). A three-year starter at UL-L, he showed steady improvement each season. As a freshman, he posted a .750 OPS with 17 extra-base hits. His sophomore year saw a jump to a .994 OPS, with 22 extra-base hits. He truly broke out as a junior, with a 1.112 OPS and 21 home runs—tripling his previous career high. He had a total of 43 extra-base hits across 62 games.

Though just 5-foot-9, DeBarge is an explosive athlete with plus bat-to-ball skills. His swing is noisy and effortful, but it allowed him to generate power in college, particularly on pulled fly balls. However, his tendency to stay tall through his swing may limit his ability to consistently lift the ball at the pro level, unless some big adjustments are made.

2024 Pro Debut: Strengths and Opportunities
2024 Stats (A): 26 games (115 PA) – .235/.322/.343, 1 HR (6 XBH), 12 BB, 28 K, 15 SB
DeBarge’s offensive game is built on plus contact skills and an advanced feel for the barrel. Despite a slow pro debut, he showed a mature approach at the plate, posting a 10.4% walk rate and a 78.3% contact rate, with in-zone whiff and chase rates well above average for the level.

A dynamic runner, DeBarge aggressively utilized his speed, going 15-for-18 in stolen base attempts for Low-A Fort Myers. Defensively, he has the actions to stick at shortstop, making plenty of plays—including some highlight-reel moments made because of limited range due to his smaller stature. His arm is strong enough to remain at the position, at least in the short term.

DeBarge’s early struggles stemmed from excessive ground-ball contact, producing an average launch angle of just 2 degrees. If he can make swing adjustments to generate more loft, he has the potential to be one of the college bats from the 2024 draft class who move quickly through the system in 2025.

Expectations for 2025
DeBarge is an exciting player to watch. He belongs to a promising group of college hitters from the Twins’ 2024 draft class—alongside Kaelen Culpepper, Billy Amick, Jaime Ferrer, and Khadim Diaw—whom the organization hopes will advance quickly through the lower minors.

A realistic upside for DeBarge is a defensively versatile infielder with enough offensive tools to develop into either a high-end utility player or a lower-impact everyday contributor. He currently projects as a top-15 prospect in the Twins' system, but has the potential to break into the top 10 with a strong 2025 season.

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[chpettit19]

I like the added athleticism and bat to ball skills. Kind of a shorter version of Neto or Wilson from the last couple years in my mind. Maybe more Wilson than Neto as Neto has added some real pop, but they're those athletic, scrappy, small college guys who just know how to put the bat on the ball. I like it.

[MN_ExPat]

15 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

I like the added athleticism and bat to ball skills. Kind of a shorter version of Neto or Wilson from the last couple years in my mind. Maybe more Wilson than Neto as Neto has added some real pop, but they're those athletic, scrappy, small college guys who just know how to put the bat on the ball. I like it.

Yeah, he's a grinder and baseball "dude".  Going to be fun to watch him play this season.

[LambchoP]

He should be fun to follow his ride through the minors. Hopefully they keep him at SS. Seems we draft so many of these shortstops then by the time they get called up to MLB they aren't shortstops anymore. Martin, Lewis, Lee, I think Miranda maybe....

[rdehring]

Thanks, Jamie, really appreciate learning more about last year's class.  Especially looking forward to those guys taken lower in the draft who we know little about.

Looking at his size and speed, could DeBarge be our next Nick Punto?  Does he have that level of hustle and grit? 

[jmlease1]

he's an interesting player to watch. i think this season will tell us a lot about whether or not he can hit for any power with wooden bats in pro baseball and be a significant hitting prospect. I don't have him fast-tracked to being a top 10 prospect in the organization, though. he did ok in Ft. Myers but hardly impressed.

[Jamie Cameron]

I think the outcome you get (production wise) if it all goes well is a Willi Castro type of player. Defensively versatile, enough bat to contribute to the lineup with consistency, some speed etc.

19 minutes ago, rdehring said:

Thanks, Jamie, really appreciate learning more about last year's class.  Especially looking forward to those guys taken lower in the draft who we know little about.

Looking at his size and speed, could DeBarge be our next Nick Punto?  Does he have that level of hustle and grit? 

 

[DocBauer]

59 minutes ago, Jamie Cameron said:

I think the outcome you get (production wise) if it all goes well is a Willi Castro type of player. Defensively versatile, enough bat to contribute to the lineup with consistency, some speed etc.

 

I guess this answers my question on him. I've been wondering is he more Keaschall as a prospect or more of a Schobel type of prospect. 

[twinstalker]

Scouting report:  Couldn't touch upper end pitchers in college.  All his damage done in the league he played in and equivalent.

Horrible pick by the Twins.  And in the first round.

But wait...this could be wrong.  A first rounder (33rd) should be able to hold his own in A+ the year he gets drafted, let's see.

Oh, that's right.  He was placed in low A and not promoted.  Why not?

.235 avg, .665 ops, 24.3% K rate,   The strikeouts portend...ugly. 

Meanwhile, Tanner Schobel (68th, .242/.670) put up a similar slash but some of that may have been more unlucky (19.2% k rate).  Objectively, Schobel looks better at a comparable time, and we know how much of a prospect Schobel is at this point.  He was a bad pick much later.

Some of the 2024 big draft names were sent to low A and struggled, at least initially.  But when the prior is inability to hit top end pitching (in college), it does not bode well.  Another example of this, btw, is his Cape Cod league season, where he fizzled with a .633 ops.

I honestly think the Twins went to see him in LaFayette, LA, saw him hit vs bad pitching, saw him hustle like a white guy gym rat, and thought they saw another Luke Keaschall, all while forgetting about the context.  I hope I'm wrong.  I wasn't wrong on Noah Miller, who, btw, did as well at Ft. Myers while being 1.3 years younger there.  DeBarge?  Not a fan of his play and especially of the Twins drafting him.  Baseball America had him at 89 prior to the 2024 draft, MLB.com had him at 67.  Just like Miller, he was seriously over-drafted.

[Guest]

DeBarge appears to have a long swing.  His BB/SO ratio headed the wrong way after signing and playing at FtMyers last year.  I'd say he has a lot of work ahead of him, plate-discipline-wise.

[Dman]

I like the contact rate as it is a skill that seems to really help as you move up levels.  I was hoping he would be a Peyton Eeles types player from the right side.  When it comes to power that most always comes later for some of these smaller contact guys.  This is the first I had heard about the looong swing path and it seems that is generally something the Twins stay away from or maybe he needed it to generate more power.  Whatever the case I think he is going to need to be shorter to the ball to handle the velocity he will be seeing.

I like the defensive profile.  I don't see him being elite at short but someone who can legit play there if needed.  I think he could be a Willie Castro type player or better if his contact rate remains elite.  I think he has a good mix of tools if the hit tool stays average or better.

I was hoping for a high school guy there and there were some enticing high school arms still in play  at that point in the draft.  I wasn't a huge fan of the pick, but I'd rather they go with a good contact guy that can run versus the power high K guys that can't run that they generally pick there.  Let's give him a full season to see where he is at before getting too worked up one way or the other.

 

[gman]

Not a big fan so far. Upside of a double A utility player. Seems like they get too many wrong picks from this part of the draft. Should have been a gimme pick for a real good lottery player. High,  upside, major league all-star,  low floor basement doesn't get to advance A ball.

[chpettit19]

36 minutes ago, gman said:

Not a big fan so far. Upside of a double A utility player. Seems like they get too many wrong picks from this part of the draft. Should have been a gimme pick for a real good lottery player. High,  upside, major league all-star,  low floor basement doesn't get to advance A ball.

Soto, Miller, Petty, Sabato, Wallner, Rooker, Leach were their other picks in this late 20s through 30s area of the draft. Soto is too early to tell but is getting top 100 buzz. Miller looks like a bust. Petty is likely to debut in Cinci at some point this year and is top 100 on 2 lists. Sabato was a complete and utter bust. Wallner is a potential star. Rooker already is a star. Leach was a miss.

I think that's an awfully impressive track record for this area of the draft. If they get 2 stars and 2 other top 100 prospects out of 7 picks in this segment of the draft I think we should be more than happy. Unfortunately, 2 of those guys are realizing their potential with other teams (but Gray and DeBarge for Petty is a solid trade). 

[David HK]

Not only good contact with speed, but he and his family had some major dance hits back in the 80s-  "Rhythm of the Night" still gets my toes tapping.

[Jamie Cameron]

Just responding to a couple of trends so far:
1. Often college guys starting in pro ball start slow as it's by far the longest season they've been involved in. I personally think there's some swing changes ahead (or behind) depending on how the offseason went, to get away from the high ground ball rate.

2. RE draft rankings, he was also in the 30s on ESPN and BP, so let's represent the highs and the lows of his rankings. His consensus ranking was 50th. Twins liked what they saw and they've earned enough trust in the draft for that to be good enough for me.

3. For the couple negative folks. You're entitled to your opinions. The goal of these pieces (and any player evaluation) is to start with the question: 'what does this player do well'? From there, we work out to opportunities and areas of growth. Let's give all these guys a full season before drawing meaningful conclusions.

Thanks to everyone who has been reading and commenting on these, appreciate the TD prospect community.

 

 

[Otaknam]

Eeles and DeBarge are two infielders to watch this year. I am really curious to see how Eeles does in his first full season at AAA. He might be a real dynamo!