Minnesota Twins Minor League Starting Pitchers of the Month: June 2025

[Steven Trefz]

Image courtesy of Ed Bailey, Wichita Wind Surge

The Twins' major-league starting pitching suffered a rash of injuries in June, and Twins fans began searching the minor leagues for hope to keep the 2025 season alive. Last month’s minor-league starter of the month, David Festa, got called up to fill the void. Whose performance in June made him the “Next Man Up” in July? These are the arms worth watching after their June 2025 performances across the Twins affiliates.

Honorable Mentions

• RHP Alejandro Hildalgo (Cedar Rapids): 1.93 ERA, 5 G, 18.2 IP, 12 H, 4 ER, 7 BB, 23 K, 1.02 WHIP, .176 BA
• RHP Joel Garcia (FCL Twins): 3.55 ERA, 3 G, 12.2 IP, 9 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 17 K, 0.87 WHIP, .205 BA
• RHP Santiago Castellanos (DSL Twins): 1.32 ERA, 4 G, 13.2 IP, 9 H, 2 ER, 3 HB, 4 BB, 17 K, 0.95 WHIP, .191 BA

#5 – RHP Adrian Bohorquez – Fort Myers Mighty Mussels
3.06 ERA, 5 G, 17.2 IP, 11 H, 6 ER, 10 BB, 23 K, 1.19 WHIP, .177 BA
The Twins signed Bohorquez to a minor-league contract in 2023 out of his native Venezuela, and he's bounced between the FCL Twins and the Mighty Mussels ever since. Bohorquez makes the top five this month not because his numbers scream All-Star, but because of how far he’s come in such a short time. After four starts in May, he owned a 14.34 ERA and averaged less than three innings an outing. Through his five June starts, the ERA obviously plunged, but his duration per game also ticked up an inning and his opponents' batting average dropped a whopping 150 points. Bohorquez continues to climb up the prospect rankings, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the 6’1”, 190-pound 20-year-old pitches his way into some innings in Cedar Rapids before the year ends.

#4 - LHP Aaron Rozek, Wichita Wind Surge
2.05 ERA, 5 G, 22.0 IP, 19 H, 5 ER, 8 BB, 26 K, 1.23 WHIP, .238 BA
Again, Rozek’s inclusion on this month’s list involves a heavy dose of improvement from earlier in the season, mixed with the attributes that he brings to an organization desperately in need of starting pitching reinforcements. Rozek managed to drop his ERA from 4.91 to 2.05 between May 1 and July 1. In his last two June outings, however, he served in more of a middle relief role of three innings each, after starting the month with three straight five-inning starts. Do the Twins see him as a long-relief specialist, or will they continue to build him up for a starting role? As a left-handed strikeout specialist, the future is bright either way for Rozek and the Twins.

#3 - RHP Chase Chaney, Cedar Rapids Kernels
2.42 ERA, 4 G, 26.0 IP, 20 H, 7 ER, 5 BB, 17 K, 0.96 WHIP, .208 BA
Chaney stands 6’1”, weighs 199 pounds (very precise), and the Twins are excited that the former 16th-round pick of the Los Angeles Angels is now starting games in the Minnesota farm system. Even though he had to overcome an April demotion from Wichita, Chaney has established himself as a core weapon for the Kernels staff, averaging over six innings per start in June. His first start of July reflected the “Pitcher of the Month” jinx, but his June performance warranted attention. Strikeouts and words such as “dominance” followed Chase’s outings, and after watching multiple short starts by Twins starters in June, one can hope that Chaney can continue to develop and bring his length to the major-league side of the equation by 2027.

#2 – RHP John Klein – Wichita Wind Surge
3.26 ERA, 5 G, 19.1 IP, 10 H, 7 ER, 6 BB 24 K, 0.83 WHIP, .143 BA
Klein began his June with his worst start of the month, and what came next was a success story in opportunity and delivering on promise. As Klein got stretched out over the month, his stat line continued to impress. The 6’5”, 225-pound righty became not only a starting pitcher, but one of the organization’s best. Klein has the velocity (high 90s) to register strikeouts, and if he can continue to rein in his control as he has in recent starts, the sky is the limit for this 23-year-old talent.

Twins Minor League Starting Pitcher of the Month – RHP Pierson Ohl – Wichita Wind Surge/St. Paul Saints
1.35 ERA, 5 G, 20 IP, 13 H, 3 ER, 4 BB, 21 K, 0.85 WHIP, .176 BA
Defining starting pitching in the minor leagues is always a bit of a moving target, but our choice for Starting Pitcher of the Month in the Twins affiliate system registered 26.1 innings across seven games for Wichita and St. Paul in June. Right-handed prospect Pierson Ohl averaged just under four innings an outing and started both of his games with St. Paul after getting the call to his third minor-league team in 2025 on June 23.

What immediately stands out about this 6’1”, 180-pound hurler is that he struck out nearly 11 batters for every one he walked. The contact that did take place, for the most part, was weak, and led to a paltry 1.37 ERA and 0.65 WHIP in June. The four runs that he surrendered in the month came via the long ball, which is something he will need to take to heart as he continues to develop. It will be interesting to see if his outings continue to get stretched throughout the rest of the season with the Saints, as he clearly is getting programmed intentionally and will not be making his debut at Target Field in 2025 most likely. Will he continue to be pushed into the starter’s role? Or will his strikeout rate lead him toward some shutdown relief role in the future? Time will tell, but for now, we salute his efforts and name him our Twins minor league starter of the month.

June has come and gone, but several starting pitchers in the Twins organization made their mark and hope to continue that success into the dog days of summer. How would your ballot look for the Twins Minor League Starting Pitchers of the Month? Let us know in the comments.

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[4twinsJA]

What strikes me is the lack of top prospects on the list. 

Ohl to me has some similarities to Jax.

[Dman]

I like Ohl, but the low K rate has always held him back.  It seems like maybe he has fixed that?  He can throw strikes as he was sort of Zebby before Zebby was Zebby.  Very stingy on walks although he gave up a fair number of hits.  It will be interesting to see how he handles AAA.  I'm not sold yet that he is starter material but see no reason he couldn't be a good to great reliever.  Need more time to see if that K rate stays around or above 9 per 9.  Giving up less contact is the only thing holding him back.  Nice to see him on this list.

Klein has got me excited.  Not sure if he can keep this up or not.  I am hoping he can and I think he could be a mid rotation arm if he can keep the K rate up and the WHIP around 1.00.  Would like to see what he can do at AAA. If this is who he is he looks like the next arm up IMO.

I haven't followed Chaney much as he is old for the level.  Since he is doing well they should move him up to AA.

I love Rozek.  I feel like he is under rated.  I still think he belongs in AAA, but he has really helped out the staff in AA and maybe he gets more innings this way. I still believe he could be MLB reliever, but I guess he will really need to put up some awesome numbers to get noticed.

My man Bohorquez gave me a heart attack to start the year.  Couldn't throw strikes and gave plenty of runs.  He didn't look close to the pitcher he was last year.  Happy to see him righting the ship.  still too many walks but other than that he is looking good.  Hope he just keeps on getting better the rest of the year.  Would be nice if he got bumped to high A later in the year but we'll see.  Bohorquez, Soto and Hill are all young arms I am hoping turn out in the next couple of years.

Would be nice if this list had Raya and or Prielipp number one, but glad too see some arms having success.

 

 

[Guest]

Not one stud on this whole page....

[nclahammer]

Great coverage, no one follows the Minnesota Twins minor leaguers better than TD.

[Otaknam]

Not sure why they keep Ohl’s innings around four if they are utilizing him as a starter. Given the dearth of starters in the bigs due to injuries, why not stretch him out to see if he can handle the workload? The Twins need the depth. The bigger issue is the apparent lack of high end minor league starters at AA or higher. I’m hoping they draft a college arm who in the upcoming draft who could put himself in position for a call up by next year. Kyle Bremner or Gage Wood, who threw a no hitter with 19 strikeouts in the College World Series, might be available. 

[HrbieFan]

It is gross to see how few innings these starters throw. Twins act like they have never thrown more than 3 innings before joining the organization. 

[FlyingFinn]

1 hour ago, Otaknam said:

Not sure why they keep Ohl’s innings around four if they are utilizing him as a starter.

Search some other articles - the Twins have picked some pitchers who they are pitching about twice per week instead of once (as minor league starters do) and they are pitching them about 3 innings each time. Ohl is one of them. Something new.

[LambchoP]

This list tells me we really need to try and acquire some upper minors pitching at the trade deadline. Specifically guys we think can be starters and throw more than 3 innings. The guys that were supposed to be at the top of our SP depth like Morris, Lewis, Raya... they're all getting ROCKED :(

[Mike Sixel]

1 hour ago, HrbieFan said:

It is gross to see how few innings these starters throw. Twins act like they have never thrown more than 3 innings before joining the organization. 

All of baseball is doing this. Multiple posts here have shown that. I don't know if it's right, but this isn't a Twins thing.