Minnesota Twins Minor League Relievers of the Month - August 2025

[Steven Trefz]

Image courtesy of David Malamut (photo of Ruddy Gomez)

The Twins promoted several of their relief pitching prospects at the end of July, in the wake of the trade deadline overhaul. With the end of the FCL and DSL seasons, our attention fully focused upon those prospects at Ft. Myers, Cedar Rapids, Wichita, and St. Paul. A few young arms made the most of their new opportunities, and here are the top relievers of August 2025 in the Minnesota pipeline.

Honorable Mentions
- Chase Chaney (Cedar Rapids Kernels): 3.76 ERA, 7 G, 26.1 IP, 27 H, 11 ER, 7 BB, 29 K, 1.29 WHIP, .260 BA
- Trent Baker (St. Paul Saints): 1.17 ERA, 5 G, 23 IP, 15 H, 3 ER, 11 BB, 16 K, 1.13 WHIP, .183 BA

#5 – RHP Mike Paredes– Wichita Wind Surge
3.00 ERA, 7 G, 18 IP, 14 H, 6 ER, 5 BB, 17 K, 1.06 WHIP, .212 BA
The 25-year-old strikeout machine continued to build upon a stellar season with an August that ended well. While shorter in stature than some of his fellow relievers at 5’11” and 185 pounds, Paredes continued to baffle opposing batters at the Double-A level, converting on three of four save opportunities in August.

#4 – LHP Kade Bragg, Wichita Wind Surge
2.19 ERA, 9 G, 12.1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 5 BB, 9 K, 0.78 WHIP, .071 BA
The trade deadline shuffle directly impacted the 24-year-old lefty Bragg, as he took a promotion to Wichita after the dust cleared at the end of July. His first month there saw the 2023 17th-round draft pick not miss a beat. His delivery and multi-pitch mix continue to deliver results, and the ceiling is high for this prospect out of Angelo State. Continued improvement on his changeup could lead to major-league opportunity in 2026.

#3 - RHP Brent Francisco (Ft. Myers Mighty Mussels)
0.00 ERA, 5 G, 9.2 IP, 7 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 14 K, 0.93 WHIP, .189 BA
This 24-year-old former Williamsport Crosscutter also took full advantage of his late-July promotion. Standing at an imposing 6’7” and weighing 250 pounds, Francisco enjoyed a spotless August down in Florida, keeping his WHIP under 1.00 and averaging over a strikeout per frame. Hopefully, the young arm can continue to build upon this success for a rise up the system in 2026.

#2 – RHP Hunter Hoopes – Cedar Rapids Kernels/Wichita Wind Surge
3.48 ERA, 8 G, 10.1 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 0 BB, 14 K, 0.48 WHIP, .139 BA
August saw Hoopes land right where he left off on July’s list. The 25-year-old Alabama product signed with the Twins on a minor-league deal in July 2024. Since then, he has climbed three levels to the Wichita club, thanks to his rocket arm. Hunter found his groove in August, and proved that he belonged at the advanced level. The YouTube sensation might not have seen the strikeout results follow him up, but the .071 opponent batting average speaks to his dominance. And since one can’t stress his discovery story enough, here it is one more time!

Twins Minor League Reliever of the Month – RHP Ruddy Gomez (Cedar Rapids Kernels)
0.00 ERA, 9 G, 12.1 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 14 K, 0.57 WHIP, .132 BA
Last month’s winner, Samuel Perez, ended up getting a baseball off of his wrist after a strong start to August, so there was an opportunity for someone to rise up to claim the top spot. That man was Ruddy Gomez. The 25-year-old found his way to the Twins organization after competing in the Frontier League for the Windy City ThunderBolts in 2024. The sturdy hurler can spin the ball from a unique angle, and has the ability to make hitters look foolish. Gomez couldn’t have had a better August, averaging over a strikeout per inning and showing an ability to go into a second inning of relief if needed. Finishing the year strong could lead to a fast trip up the organizational ladder in 2026.

August has come and gone, but several relief pitchers in the Twins organization made their mark and hope to continue that success as summer leagues head into playoff time. How would your ballot look for the Twins Minor League Relievers of the Month? Let us know in the comments.

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[twinstalker]

In terms of who had the best results, the best line is Francisco's.  This is because he did best with the things he could control.  Hits are often the result of luck.  Given that he struck out the most hitters (K/9), didn't give up a run, and walked only two, there's your reliever of the month.

Which is meaningless for so many different reasons.  Francisco is 24 at low A.  The two guys you placed ahead of him are 25.  Relievers don't make the majors, except in the rarest of circumstances.  Relief outings, random or correlated, will allow a nothing pitcher to have a good month by chance.  More than one nothing pitcher will have good numbers for a month.  There are fifty relievers in the system, probably, and none of them are good enough to make the majors, yet by chance or because they're too experienced for the league, a few will put up decent numbers.

Still, I sort of like this feature.

[Dman]

I know Paredes doesn't have elite stuff, but he generally gets elite results. This was an off month for him IMO as he had several tough outings.  Despite all that he still made the top 5.

I agree with the OP on Bragg.  He has been pretty dominate all year and to move up a level and not miss a beat speaks to the dominance his stuff can have.  Hopefully just a tweak away from being a difference maker.  We'll see.

Hoopes is interesting as well and I love guys that can throw heat like he can.  I'm gonna be watching him closely as he moves up.

 

[mrguy]

3 hours ago, twinstalker said:

In terms of who had the best results, the best line is Francisco's.  This is because he did best with the things he could control.  Hits are often the result of luck.  Given that he struck out the most hitters (K/9), didn't give up a run, and walked only two, there's your reliever of the month.

Which is meaningless for so many different reasons.  Francisco is 24 at low A.  The two guys you placed ahead of him are 25.  Relievers don't make the majors, except in the rarest of circumstances.  Relief outings, random or correlated, will allow a nothing pitcher to have a good month by chance.  More than one nothing pitcher will have good numbers for a month.  There are fifty relievers in the system, probably, and none of them are good enough to make the majors, yet by chance or because they're too experienced for the league, a few will put up decent numbers.

Still, I sort of like this feature.

To some degree, I get the point here, but considering the twins system this year has been having a lot of focus on giving starters and some relievers somewhat equal playing time for the most part so there is more depth in the system, I do think there is an argument that this isn't as true in the case for some anymore. Like Paredes is #5 on this list for the month and he's got almost the same innings to the starters they have in Wichita on a consistent month to month basis. He has the most innings pitched on the team in general approaching 100 and will probably be the few in the whole twins minor league system to hit that number with only Ty Langenberg, Chase Cheney(who is also in this list), and Aaron Rozek being the only guys that have spent the whole season in the minors reaching it by this time in the season. Same is true with guys like Trent Baker, who shifted to being a reliever when reaching AAA, who pitched only 1 less inning than top prospect Marco Raya this month. At that point, the only point that can really discredit their performance would be the age vs the level they're in, and all the high minor examples are still below league average in age.

[thelanges5]

Good stuff! Apparently the big club has some bullpen openings. 

[DocBauer]

I don't know if I see Chaney as much of a prospect even if he is switching to the pen full time. IMO, he's too old to be at CR. But Baker, while a little longer in the tooth as well, is at AAA now at least. Might he find success in the pen going forward? He did pretty well at AA this year.

Parades has been really consistent in his results. But does he have enough pure stuff to get ML hitters out at some point?

I had let myself fall asleep on Bragg because, as is typical, he didn't throw in a game after being drafted. Then he only threw about 8 innings in 2024 due to injury. That's why he was sent to the AFL this past offseason. He performed pretty poorly so I just dismissed him from memory. But I went and looked at his season numbers a couple days ago after I noticed him popping up a lot in game write ups. He's having a hell of a season! Great ERA, low HIT numbers, and high K numbers. He gets his BB down a little bit more and he could rise QUICKLY. This is actually not just his first full season, but almost his first season PERIOD if you take away the 8 IP last year.

I had totally forgotten about Hunter Hoopes as well. Not intentionally, but non drafted arms tend to either disappear quickly, or remain in the lower minors for a couple of years. And I just pay more attention to starters at those levels. The video showing him hit 107 is impressive to be sure. But he's not throwing from a mound doing that. It's just a wild, running start and full effort toss. But 25yo...and same age until early March...and putting up great numbers this 1st season with the Twins and reaching AA already is encouraging. A great ERA, only 22 HITS in 49 IP, and 19 BB and an impressive 62K in those 49 IP is very impressive. He and Bragg just might the real deal, and both anomalies: actual MILB RP that make it AS RP, and not just failed starters later converted.

Not on this list, but is it my imagination or has LH Jaylin Nowlin at AA been throwing better as of late?

[Otaknam]

I have a different perspective from the post that “Relievers don't make the majors, except in the rarest of circumstances.” Everyone wants to start, of course, as all pitchers have done in their earlier careers. But analytics has changed the approach to pitching and offense, for better or worst (worst IMO). Since complete games are now as outdated as a Model T, many minor league pitchers are being groomed to pitch 2-3 innings following a starter. This helps them maintain maximum velocity that they lose when starting. Years ago, even in the minors, it was not unusual for starters  to throw complete games. The approach in the minors now seems to be to limit starter innings by slowly building them up for six innings, minimizing overwork injuries. This stretches out the BP to allow more pitchers to get more innings. Then the organization can make more informed decisions about who has potential as a starter and who can be an effective reliever. 

[LA Vikes Fan]

I agree that things have changed in the sense that teams put guys in relief at the MiLB level intending to develop them into MLB bullpen pieces. I think the old days of only failed starters in the bullpen are gone. hey, we need basically 4-6 new bullpen pieces next year, and that's assuming Topa and Sands are two of the 8. Everyone else is now on a tryout with Funderburk looking like he could be part of the solution. I thought Hatch might be but he stunk last night. Still, he's had 4 very good appearances since coming over and 2 pretty bad ones so there may be something there. The rest? Adams might be something but the sooner we move away from  Davis, Kriske, and Cabrera, the better off we will be. I'd move away immediately if not sooner from those 3 - release them and bring up Ohl, Baker, and Lawyerson. Tonkin is fine for now but he's already 35, has never been very good, and is on the downward slope.  He probably isn't part of the 2026 solution. Let's see if the other guys are.