2025 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels Roster Preview: Pro Debuts and the Next Breakout Pitchers

[Cody Christie]

The Fort Myers Mighty Mussels begin their season on Friday. How does this year's roster shape up, and which top prospects are on the team?

 

Image courtesy of William Parmeter (Photo of Yasser Mercedes)

The Fort Myers Mighty Mussels should be an exciting team in 2025 with some of the team's top ranked prospects at multiple positions. Dasan Hill is the top ranked prospect that will be in Fort Myers to start the year. He currently sits as the 11th ranked prospect according to Twins Daily's updated top-20 list. He was the team's second round pick in 2024, so he will be making his pro debut when he steps on the mound for Fort Myers. 

On the hitter side, many eyes will turn to Yasser Mercedes, the Twins' top international prospect from the 2022 signing period. He's shown flashes of his talent during his professional career, but has yet to put together a consistent full season. The Twins are sending him back to Low-A where the 20-year-old played in 10 games after a dominant season in the FCL. Dameury Pena was part of Minnesota's 2023 international class and is already considered among the organization's top prospects. Fort Myers will be his first taste of a full-season league, and he won't turn 20 until September.  

Seth Feldman will be taking over the managerial role in Fort Myers. He will be only the second manager in the Mussels’ era after Brian Meyer was promoted to Cedar Rapids for the 2025 campaign. Feldman has managed multiple players on the roster over the last five seasons while serving as DSL Twins manager for two seasons and the past three seasons as the manager of the FSL Twins. 

“It’s an exciting opportunity,” Feldman said. “At the end of the day, it’s all about taking care of the players and making sure we do everything we can to help them and push them forward in their careers. We’re ready to get to work.”

Joining Feldman’s staff will be three returning coaches from last season including hitting coach Luis Reyes, pitching coach Richard Salazar, and strength and conditioning coach Matt Anti. Other coaches on the staff are hitting coach Andrew Parks, pitching coach Anders Dzurak, lead athletic trainer Charysse Berkowski, athletic trainer Thaddeus Hayes and coordinator, baseball technology Jeremy Miranda.

“This is a group that has worked hard getting after it during spring training these last few months,” Feldman added. “As a staff we are excited to work with this group and are ready to get the season rolling.” So, who are the players joining the coaching staff? Overall, the roster features 15 pitchers and 14 position players. Thirteen of the 29 players suited up for the Mussels in 2024.

Pitchers: LHP Kade Bragg, LHP Michael Carpenter, RHP Jason Doktorczyk, RHP Jakob Hall, LHP Dasan Hill, RHP Hunter Hoopes, RHP Eli Jones, RHP Devin Kirby-Williams, RHP Jacob Kisting, RHP Dylan Questad, RHP Liam Rocha, RHP Ivran Romero, RHP Michael Ross, LHP Zander Sechrist, RHP Tyler Stasiowski
Hill is the highest ranked pitcher among this group as he currently sits 11th on Twins Daily’s top-20 prospects. He was taken by the Twins with the 69th overall pick in the 2024 Draft out of high school in Texas. The Twins have focused on college pitching in recent drafts but have found success with high school pitchers like Charlee Soto and Marco Raya. Hill has yet to make his professional debut after signing last summer. He stands at 6-foot-5 and has a four-pitch mix highlighted by a mid-90's fastball and low 80’s sweeper. The Twins will closely monitor his workload in his first professional season, but he should follow a similar plan to Soto with Fort Myers last season. 

Minnesota’s front office has focused on college arms in the middle and late rounds with some positive results. Many of the other pitchers on the roster were selected in last June’s draft including Eli Jones (7th round), Jakob Hall (8th round), Jason Doktorczyk (9th round), Michael Carpenter (11th round), Jacob Kisting (14th round), and Michael Ross (18th round). A lot of development can happen in a player’s first full professional season and the Twins hope these arms can follow in the footsteps of other recent draftees like David Festa and Zebby Matthews. 

Catchers: Poncho Ruiz, Daniel Pena, Jefferson Valladares
Ruiz split time between Low- and High-A last season and hit .248/.350/.361 (.711) with 24 doubles and four homers. He spent the offseason in the Mexican Pacific Winter League where he posted a .785 OPS in 43 games. Pena played 36 games for Fort Myers last season as a 19-year old. He posted a .593 OPS in 36 games but faced older batters in all but 18 plate appearances. Valladares was selected from the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Triple-A phase of the Rule 5 Draft. He was limited to 22 games last season but posted a .728 OPS. 

Infielders: 3B/1B Kevin Maitan, 1B/3B Peyton Carr, UTL Angel Del Rosario, 2B/3B Dameury Pena, 2B/3B/SS Isaac Pena, UTL Jay Thomason
Dameury Pena is the highest ranked prospect among the infield group. He will be making his debut in a full-season league after playing 39 games for the FCL Twins in 2024. In 140 PA, he hit .282/.386/.410 (.796) with eight extra-base hits. He makes a lot of contact as he struck out in just 6.5% of his plate appearances over two years split between the Dominican Summer League and the FCL.

Maitan is a former top-100 prospect with the Angels organization (2017-18) who the Twins signed from an independent league last year and sent to Cedar Rapids. Carr was a 10th round pick in 2024 and has yet to debut. Del Rosario can play multiple positions and had a .650 OPS in 56 games at High-A in 2024.  Isaac Pena played 64 games with Fort Myers last season with a .574 OPS. Thomason was drafted from Air Force last season and got 85 PA (.626 OPS) with the Mighty Mussels after signing. 

Outfielders: Miguel Briceno, Byron Chourio, Maddux Houghton, Yasser Mercedes, Jose Rodriguez
Mercedes is the highest ranked position player on the Opening Day roster, currently sitting at 15th on the Twins Daily top-20. He destroyed the FCL last year by slashing .331/.421/.568 (.989) with 26 extra-base hits and 18 steals in 51 games. When that season ended, the Twins promoted him to Fort Myers. As a right-handed hitter, his splits were nearly identical versus righties (.886 OPS) and lefties (.828 OPS). He was named a Florida Complex League All-Star in September and was runner-up for the Twins Daily Short Season Hitter of the Year. 

Briceno joins the Twins from the Brewers organization. He was a minor-league Rule 5 pick. Last season, he played 94 games at Low-A and posted a .685 OPS. Chourio played all last season (84 games) with Fort Myers while being a teenager. He struggled to make consistent contact (.549 OPS) but went 23-for-28 on steal attempts. Houghton is 26-years old and has spent the last two seasons at High-A. The Twins rewarded him last season with five games at Triple-A. Rodriguez fought through injuries last season that limited him to a .554 OPS. 

The Mighty Mussels open their season this Friday, April 4, on the road against the Palm Beach Cardinals at 5:30 p.m. CST/ The team heads home to Hammond Stadium for their home opener on Tuesday, April 8 at 6:05 p.m CST.

What questions do you have about the roster? Can any of last year’s draft picks make an early impact this season? Leave a comment and start the discussion.

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[Doctor Wu]

I know next to nothing about any of the pitchers on the Mighty Mussels roster this season, so the information on this post is very helpful. Thank you!

[LambchoP]

Hopefully Mercedes can hit like he did last year. Would be nice to have a speedy .300 hitting OF who is also a base stealing threat. Basically what Buxton was supposed to be early on his career.

[rdehring]

Thanks, Cody.

One player who you didn't talk about is the lefty out of Madison Tech, Carpenter.  Is my memory correct and the Twins paid the eleventh round pick significantly over slot?  Also recall he could have a high ceiling after a ton of success at Madison.  Is that correct?

[Seth Stohs]

1 hour ago, Doctor Wu said:

I know next to nothing about any of the pitchers on the Mighty Mussels roster this season, so the information on this post is very helpful. Thank you!

We all will learn a lot about them this year, hopefully. While individually none of them stands out as a top prospect today, we've seen that pattern. Which Day 2 or Day 3 pitcher will step up this year and jump into the top ten prospects? Will be fun to watch. 

[Seth Stohs]

28 minutes ago, rdehring said:

Thanks, Cody.

One player who you didn't talk about is the lefty out of Madison Tech, Carpenter.  Is my memory correct and the Twins paid the eleventh round pick significantly over slot?  Also recall he could have a high ceiling after a ton of success at Madison.  Is that correct?

Oh geez, two Wisconsin guys on this roster for ya, Roger!! 

Questad really struggled in the FCL last year (his pro debut). But I would agree that Carpenter is probably the bigger prospect today. The Twins were very excited to go get him to start Day 3 in the draft. The Twins gave him $508,500 for a signing bonus (anything over $150K on Day 3 goes against the team's overall draft allotment). 

[rdehring]

1 hour ago, Seth Stohs said:

Oh geez, two Wisconsin guys on this roster for ya, Roger!! 

Questad really struggled in the FCL last year (his pro debut). But I would agree that Carpenter is probably the bigger prospect today. The Twins were very excited to go get him to start Day 3 in the draft. The Twins gave him $508,500 for a signing bonus (anything over $150K on Day 3 goes against the team's overall draft allotment). 

Plus, Prielipp making it three.  Am so excited about the two lefties which is something the Twins need, badly.

Question, Seth.  Do you know if Madison College is still a two year school?  Back when I was in Madison, it was Madison Tech.  Well, actually it was Madison Central High School which later became Madison Technical College sometime in the 60's, I think.

[jmlease1]

Hard not to be intrigued by Hill, and Mercedes has big potential. But it feels like a roster where we need some guys to step forward and show some quality a bit more than usual. There's more known star power at Cedar Rapids to start the year than Ft. Myers, but it doesn't mean there aren't some guys that could take some big developmental steps.

I'm curious to see how Chourio does this year after having last year to adapt. His speed is intriguing at the very least.

[DocBauer]

I'm more excited about this Ft Myers team than I have been recently. It's primarily a collection of 2024 draft choices and fairly recent IL signees. 

Mercedes is a 4 tool talent and potentially a 5 tool one if power develops. J Rodriguz is hoping to repeat what he did in the DSL a couple years ago. Does he make the adjustment in his 2nd season stateside? I'm a little surprised Houghton is back after a decent 2023 at Ft Myers. He played a lot of late innings for the Twins in ST. Is he ready to take a step forward and jump to A+ early?

D Pena looks like a Arraez Jr. clone, more or less. I'm really excited about '24 draft choices Carr and Thomason. Neither came from top programs, but they both excelled at their respective levels. I thought both were potential steals. 

Honestly excited about the pitching staff. Hill is obviously the most exciting arm we're all looking at. He's already added a little muscle and ST reports have his velocity already up. Can he have as good a 1st season as Soto as a teenager? Speaking of teenagers, Questad didn't have a great debut in the FSL. But the fact that he was promoted to A ball tells me he had a great offseason. Carpenter really excites me as a potential 11th round pick. He was 19yo in a low college level who absolutely dominated. He could be really interesting to follow. A couple of these arms didn't throw last season. So we'll see what happens. But ONE GUY to keep an eye on is Doktorczyk. He was the Twins starter in the Futures Game, which was his pro debut. Watching him throw, I saw a 6' 6" version of Ober. I even thought his delivery looked similar. He showed solid 92÷ velocity and and some decent secondary stuff. He certainly wasn't dominate in his debut, but he was pretty solid facing a  Jay's lineup that was mostly AAA quality. While LOOKING like Ober physically, he reminded me also of Matthews as a guy who just might make a jump. By jump, I mean a jump to A+ with a POSSIBLE  AA late season appearance as this is his debut. He might be a surprise riser before the season is done.