Who Has the Best Tools Among the 2025 Twins’ Top 30 Prospects?

[Cody Christie]

The Twins have some of baseball’s top prospects with many of their top players closing in on the big leagues. So, who has the best tools among their top position player prospects?

 

Image courtesy of William Parmeter (Debarge, Jenkins), Seth Stohs (Gonzalez)

Many national prospect rankings have updated their top-100 prospect lists leading into the 2025 season. MLB Pipeline updated their rankings by using updated scouting reports to gauge players' potential tools. Some of Minnesota’s top prospects have dealt with minor injuries this spring, but that doesn’t detract from their long-term value. 

The tools below are rated on the standard 20-80 scouting scale, where 50 represents the big-league average. Players on the list must be included in MLB Pipeline’s Top-30 Twins prospects.

Hit Tool: Walker Jenkins, OF
Scouting Grade: 60
Scouts have touted Walker Jenkins ’ bat-to-ball skills since he was an amateur, and the Twins have seen his hit tool shine during his professional career. Last season, he hit .282/.394/.439 (.833) with a 139 wRC+ despite being limited to 82 games with a hamstring injury. He suffered a minor ankle sprain early in spring training, but the Twins hope he will miss limited action. For 2025, the goal should be for Jenkins to show off more of his five-tool talent with the potential for him to make his big-league debut. There is a chance that Jenkins will enter next season as baseball’s number-one ranked prospect, especially if he can improve in three key areas. Luke Keaschall and Kaelen Culpepper received similar scouting grades from MLB Pipeline. 
Honorable Mentions: Luke Keaschall, Kaelen Culpepper

Power Tool: Emmanuel Rodriguez, OF
Scouting Grade: 60
Looking at Emmanuel Rodriguez ’s small stature, many wouldn’t believe he is a power threat. However, his keen eye for the zone allows him to capitalize on mistake pitches, including posting an 184 wRC+ last season. Injuries have limited him throughout his professional career (something that is common with Twins top prospects) to the point where he has yet to play 100 games in a season. Last season, Rodriguez finished the year at Triple-A, so there will be an opportunity for him to make his big-league debut in 2025. Jenkins was touted as an amateur power threat, but his big-time power hasn’t regularly translated to game action. Winokur has a good chance to top this ranking next season, especially if he can build off a 116 wRC+ in 2024. The Twins hope Jenkins and Winokur can form a middle-of-the-order that matches the heyday of Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau.
Honorable Mentions: Walker Jenkins, Brandon Winokur

Run Tool: Kyle Debarge, INF
Scouting Grade: 60
The Twins focused on polished college players early in the 2024 MLB Draft and took Kyle Debarge with their supplemental first-round pick. During his junior season at Louisiana Lafayette, he posted a 1.117 OPS with 43 extra-base hits and ten steals. Minnesota let him run wild during his professional debut. In 26 games, he went 15-for-18 in stolen base attempts while also collecting six extra-base hits. His speed and athleticism should allow him to stick at shortstop, so it will be interesting to see how the organization balances playing time between him and Culpepper as they move through the system. Winokur went 23-for-29 in stolen base attempts last season but could lose a step as he matures and adds muscle to his frame. 
Honorable Mention: Brandon Winokur

Arm Tool: Gabriel Gonzalez, INF
Scouting Grade: 65
Gabriel Gonzalez has seen his prospect stock drop since joining the Twins in the Jorge Polanco trade. Last season, he played most of his games in right field (55 starts) but also over 130 innings in left field. Gonzalez collected five outfield assists. He posted a .707 OPS in 81 games last season for Cedar Rapids, so he will need to hit for more power to stick in a corner outfield spot. Yasser Mercedes dealt with a shoulder injury at the beginning of last season, but the Twins continued to use him in center field, and he has one of the best arms in the system. Culpepper was drafted as a shortstop, and the Twins will start moving him around to other defensive positions, including third base, second base, and outfield.  
Honorable Mentions: Yasser Mercedes, Kaelen Culpepper

Field Tool: Kyle Debarge, INF
Scouting Grade: 55
The Twins have targeted up-the-middle defenders with their early draft picks, including Jenkins, Culpepper, and Debarge. Culpeper and Jenkins will get every opportunity to stick in center field or shortstop, but many believe they will eventually end up at third base or corner outfield. Debarge has all the skills an organization wants from a shortstop, including a solid arm and good instincts. The Twins like players to have defensive flexibility, so Debarge could start seeing time in center field or other infield spots. Jenkins is an elite athlete who should stick in center field early in his career. 
Honorable Mention: Walker Jenkins

The Twins’ farm system continues to showcase a wealth of talent, with top prospects flashing elite tools that could shape the franchise’s future. As these players develop, refining their skills and adapting to higher levels of competition, their ceilings become even more intriguing. Some will inevitably rise faster than others, but the raw ability within the system is undeniable. For Twins fans, the excitement lies in watching these prospects turn potential into production and eventually develop into impact players at Target Field.

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What tools stand out? Were any players a surprise on the list? Leave a comment and start the discussion.

 

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[old nurse]

No hit ends up no good in terms of prospects as starters 

[rdehring]

As I read this Cody, I kept thinking 'are there other guys who aren't top prospects but have one fantastic tool?'  Would have been interesting to have a few comments about some of those kids.  Perhaps someone who doesn't hit for a ton but is the fastest player in the system.  

Thanks for the report.  Sure looks like the Twins really need a couple of these guys to make it big.

[tony&rodney]

2 hours ago, rdehring said:

'are there other guys who aren't top prospects but have one fantastic tool?' 

That would be Gabriel Gonzalez. His outfield skills were the worst possible last season but he can really throw the ball once he picks it up Hopefully he gets better at seeing the ball when it is hit. He can swing a bat ok too. He is not a top 20-30 prospect yet. 

On another note, a guy who might blow you away with tools is Brandon Winokur. Everyone says he is too tall for shortstop and centerfield but when you watch him play he makes all the plays and covers massive ground. Winokur has a top arm, is very fast, and has huge power. Can he develop enough as a hitter to bring all of his skills forward? This summer will be a test to partially answer questions about his future. Winokur is still pretty raw.

[DocBauer]

Really interested in seeing what DeBarge does with a fresh start to a new season. I was a little surprised when he was picked, but he's got some good tools to work with, though I'm not sure about power. I don't think he's got the 20HR power he showed in college last year.

Winokur is one of my favorite prospects. He's very raw, but he really held his own for someone so young, and showed continued improvement as the season went along. It's going to be a few seasons still, but I could see a scenario where he's the CF with Winokur and Rodriguez flanking him.

[ashbury]

6 hours ago, rdehring said:

As I read this Cody, I kept thinking 'are there other guys who aren't top prospects but have one fantastic tool?' 

I have the impression the present Twins FO steers away from that sort of player.  The Hit tool might be the one exception where that tool alone can allow a player to have a career, and the Twins had one of the best in that single dimension when they had Luis Arraez (who isn't too much to write home about with any of the other 4 traditional tools), but then they traded him away.

Having "the fastest player in the Florida State League" would have seemed like a very Terry Ryan type of thing to lay claim to, though.  Back in the day.  "Man, if we can just teach him to hit a curveball, and to track a fly ball, man, we'd really have something.  If he could pop a homer now and then, that is.  Don't know what to do about that rag arm. Guess he'll play left.  He can really cover some ground when he isn't doing 180s and even 360s out there."

[bean5302]

What I took from this is the Twins don't have a lot to brag about. A 60 grade tool for prospects is fairly common.

[chpettit19]

16 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

What I took from this is the Twins don't have a lot to brag about. A 60 grade tool for prospects is fairly common.

Is it? I think it depends on where you're getting your scouting reports from. MLB, in my estimation, is far freer with handing out 60s and 70s in scouting reports than other publications.

Number of players on Fangraphs with a 60 or better future grade at any of the following tools:
Hit: 21 (Jenkins is one of them)
Field: 60 (Emma is one of them)
Raw Power: 103 
Game Power: 38 (Emma is one of them)
Speed: 82
Arm: 0 (they don't seem to have any arm grades)

Fangraphs has a nice tool for easily filtering by tool grades so that's why I used them. Flat out, raw physical tools like raw power and speed have a decent number of guys, but the others aren't very big numbers. 21 guys with 60 grade hit tools? That's less than 1 guy per org. Field is only 2 guys per, and game power (only power that matters) is barely over 1 per org. It's not 10 guys at each tool, but it's not 100. Guess it depends on your definition of "common."

Twins aren't overflowing with 60s on Fangraphs, but nobody really is.

[bean5302]

6 hours ago, chpettit19 said:

Is it? I think it depends on where you're getting your scouting reports from. MLB, in my estimation, is far freer with handing out 60s and 70s in scouting reports than other publications.

Number of players on Fangraphs with a 60 or better future grade at any of the following tools:
Hit: 21 (Jenkins is one of them)
Field: 60 (Emma is one of them)
Raw Power: 103 
Game Power: 38 (Emma is one of them)
Speed: 82
Arm: 0 (they don't seem to have any arm grades)

Fangraphs has a nice tool for easily filtering by tool grades so that's why I used them. Flat out, raw physical tools like raw power and speed have a decent number of guys, but the others aren't very big numbers. 21 guys with 60 grade hit tools? That's less than 1 guy per org. Field is only 2 guys per, and game power (only power that matters) is barely over 1 per org. It's not 10 guys at each tool, but it's not 100. Guess it depends on your definition of "common."

Twins aren't overflowing with 60s on Fangraphs, but nobody really is.

So potentially 300 prospects in MLB with a 60 grade tool from Fangraphs, and the very highest rating the Twins have in the entire franchise is 65 grade.

[chpettit19]

8 hours ago, bean5302 said:

So potentially 300 prospects in MLB with a 60 grade tool from Fangraphs, and the very highest rating the Twins have in the entire franchise is 65 grade.

But it's not 300, and I'm pretty sure you know that. Emma is on 2 of them as I said in there. And he's not even one of the super elite prospects. I think you're well aware that there are many prospects that are on multiple of those lists. Like raw and game power. I know you don't think there's 103 guys with 60 grade raw power and entirely different set of 38 guys with 60 grade game power. And I'll confirm right now that all 38 game power guys are on both lists. I'd bet you're aware there's a number of guys with 60 grade speed and field. 25 guys on both those lists, to be exact. 

How many 65 grades do you think there are? 4 hit tools, 9 game power, 32 raw power, 23 speed, 8 field.

And in that list Starlyn Caba is on both hit and field while Chandler Simpson is on both hit and speed.

Most of the time people don't really distinguish between raw and game power, they just talk about, and grade, game power. So we can reasonably take those numbers out and you're down to less than 1 guy per org with a 65 grade. I don’t think the Twins are out of the norm at all when it comes to the amount of 60+ grades they have.

[bean5302]

1 hour ago, chpettit19 said:

But it's not 300, and I'm pretty sure you know that. Emma is on 2 of them as I said in there. And he's not even one of the super elite prospects. I think you're well aware that there are many prospects that are on multiple of those lists. Like raw and game power. I know you don't think there's 103 guys with 60 grade raw power and entirely different set of 38 guys with 60 grade game power. And I'll confirm right now that all 38 game power guys are on both lists. I'd bet you're aware there's a number of guys with 60 grade speed and field. 25 guys on both those lists, to be exact. 

How many 65 grades do you think there are? 4 hit tools, 9 game power, 32 raw power, 23 speed, 8 field.

And in that list Starlyn Caba is on both hit and field while Chandler Simpson is on both hit and speed.

Most of the time people don't really distinguish between raw and game power, they just talk about, and grade, game power. So we can reasonably take those numbers out and you're down to less than 1 guy per org with a 65 grade. I don’t think the Twins are out of the norm at all when it comes to the amount of 60+ grades they have.

*From 2024's "The Board" first team, Orioles. 3/5 top 5 position players for the Orioles had at least one 70 grade tool. All 5 had at least one 60 grade tool.
*From the White Sox, 60% of their top 5 position prospects (going all the way down to 11th in their system because it was mostly pitchers) had a 60 grade tool.
*From the Athletics, 60% had a 70+ grade tool. 60% had a 60+ grade tool

First 3 teams I checked and 6 of the first 15 prospects had at least one tool better than any prospect in the Twins' system.

 

[chpettit19]

3 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

*From 2024's "The Board" first team, Orioles. 3/5 top 5 position players for the Orioles had at least one 70 grade tool. All 5 had at least one 60 grade tool.
*From the White Sox, 60% of their top 5 position prospects (going all the way down to 11th in their system because it was mostly pitchers) had a 60 grade tool.
*From the Athletics, 60% had a 70+ grade tool. 60% had a 60+ grade tool

First 3 teams I checked and 6 of the first 15 prospects had at least one tool better than any prospect in the Twins' system.

 

Yeah, I'm going to repeat my statements about raw power being a useless "tool" (and isn't even accounted for in this article). If you take out guys like George Wolkow (30 hit tool, 40 FV) and Wilfred Veras (35 hit, 40 FV) you've wiped out 33% of your 6 already. Their game power (the tool people actually care about and that actually matters and is actually in this article) grades are 60 and 55. Suddenly not so impressive. 

Then let's look at speed. A tool that doesn't get you to the majors on its own. Hendry Chivilli is in the Twins system on that board and has a 70 speed so your statement that the Twins don't have anyone with a 70 grade tool is already wrong, but he's a 30 hit, 40 FV guy. Just like Jose Ramos of the A's who's 70 speed, 35 hit, 40 FV. Denzel Clarke has 70 raw power and speed but a 30 hit and 50 game power to go with his 40+ FV. 

On that 2024 list of the 4 teams you mentioned there were 4 guys with 60 or better hit tools. Twins had 2 of them (Martin and Pena). 8 guys with 60 or better game power. The Twins had 2 of those as well (Emma and Jenkins). 12 guys with speed grades of 60 or better. Twins had 3 of them (Chivilli, De Los Santos, and Schobel). 12 guys with 60 or better field. Twins had 4 of them (Emma, Gonzalez, Chivilli, and Mercedes).

By my math that's 50% of the hit tool guys, 25% of the power guys, 25% of the speed guys. And 33% of the field guys. And I believe the Twins being 1 out of 4 teams would mean they should be at 25% of the players in order to be average. So they're at least average in all 4 spots, while above average in 2. Of the 36 total 60 or better grades the Twins had 11 of them. That's 30.5%. Which is higher than the 25% that it would take to be considered average in that grouping of 4 teams.

[tony&rodney]

23 hours ago, bean5302 said:

So potentially 300 prospects in MLB with a 60 grade tool from Fangraphs, and the very highest rating the Twins have in the entire franchise is 65 grade.

Prospects are future assets. In the age of the internet teams like to hype their prospects and sell the future. Every Yankee and Dodger prospect is, of course, a potential Hall of Famer. It is pretty harmless. Paying too much attention to words spilled on a prospect and even to all of their minor league stats doesn't tell the full story. If you watch a player enough, the good prospects stand out from their peers. All prospects need to prove themselves in the majors and do it repetitively before they are identified as stars. 

The Twins have a number of players who have talent and several may make a name for themselves beyond simply wearing the uniform at the MLB level. A fair assessment of how difficult it is to measure an organization's strength would be the Twins varying from #8 to #20 among the 30 clubs according to various folks assembling their ratings. All I know is that it is interesting to watch minor league baseball and see the young prospects play. I would get too worked up over the grades of this team or that team.