Twins Daily 2025 Dominican Summer League Twins Hitter of the Year

[Seth Stohs]

The 2025 DSL season started out very slowly, but by season’s end they were competing with anyone who lined up against them. Manager Rafael Martinez’s club finished the season at 24-32. 

The DSL roster was filled with interesting prospects in 2025. The Twins decided to spread their international money around. 

Santiago Leon is the son of one of the Twins top international scouts. The talented youngster signed for $1,697,500. He played in 50 games and hit .223 with a .391 on-base percentage. 

Another Top international prospect in January was OF Carlos Taveras who received a bonus of $1,097,500. His season ended due to injury after just 18 games, but in that stretch he hit .246 with a .389 on-base percentage. He had three doubles, a triple and two home runs. 

Haritzon Castillo signed for $947,500. The infielder was the Twins lone representative in the DSL All Star game. He played in 39 games and hit .283/.395/.428 (.823) with eight doubles, three triples, two homers and 12 RBI. He also had 24 walks to just 22 strikeouts. 

It was a surprise in the industry when the Twins signed outfielder Teilon Serrano. He was rumored to be heading to the Dodgers. However, in their efforts to sign Roki Sasaki, the Dodgers had to back out. The Twins jumped in and signed him for $847,500. He played in 41 games and hit .258/.386/.426 (.812) with seven doubles, two triples, five home runs, and 21 stolen bases. 

Jose Barrios was signed for $422,500. In 37 games, he hit .254/.352/.361 (.713) with three doubles, two triples, two homers, and 10 stolen bases. 

As the saying goes, the further away from the big leagues, the less important the statistics are. Players in the Dominican Summer League are six promotions away from the big leagues. Most of them are 16 or 17 years old and still growing, still developing, and still learning. So it is always important to take the performances on the field with a bit of a grain of salt. 

But it’s also important to celebrate successes, and that’s what we’re doing today. Below, you will see how Twins Daily writers ranked the DSL Hitters in terms of 2025 on-field performances. Just one of the players mentioned above 

Honorable Mention
Yovanny Duran - 46 games, .296/.452/.382 (.833), 7-2B, 3-3B, 31 SB.
Teillon Serrano - 41 games, .258/.386/.426 (.812), 7-2B, 2-3B, 5-HR, 21-SB. 

#3: Joyner Perez 
Perez played in just under half of the team’s games, but he impressed with some impressive numbers. The Twins signed Perez for $397,500 in January. At 16, he was 5-11 and 215 pounds, he may not be your typical, athletic player, but if he can hit like this as he moves up, he will continue to move up. In his pro debut, he hit for average, got on base, and slugged. He had 18 walks to just 17 strikeouts, showing a good approach at the plate which can be unusual in the lower levels. He has doubles power that can certainly turn into home run power as he grows, sees more pitching and makes adjustments. 

 

#2: Jhomnardo Reyes 
Reyes certainly looks the part of a powerful ballplayer. At 6-3 and 190 pounds, the 17-year-old has tremendous power, and even more power potential. Signed out of the Dominican Republic for $332,500, Reyes had a very solid showing in his first pro season. In 50 games, he hit .291/.386/.469 (.855) with 10 doubles, nine triples, and one home run. He had 33 runs. He struck out a lot, but he also walked a lot for such a young player. While he logged just one home run, he showed the power and speed potential that he has with the 10 doubles and nine triples. 

 

#1: 3B Darwin Almanzar
While Almanzar had the lowest signing bonus of those players written about today, a quarter-million-dollar bonus says that he was a well-known, well-respected prospect. The 17-year-old switch-hitter put together a very solid, well-rounded season. He played in 44 games and hit .252/.347/.497 (.843). He hit 17 doubles, one triple, and six home runs. He showed a good approach at the plate with 20 walks. He played all over the infield, though primarily at third base. At 5-10 and 180 pounds, he has the potential to grow, add strength and continue to improve. 

 

If we’ve learned anything over the years, it’s that the stats in the DSL don’t necessarily transfer. Most of these players mentioned in today’s article will move up to the Florida Complex League next year. That transition comes with its own issues including coming to the States for the first time. 

Congratulations to these players on a successful first professional season.

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[old nurse]

Considering that May college players do not do well until their second or third year, these kids hitting well at that age is a good sign. Hopefully they are learning defense and baserunning, too. 

[Seth Stohs]

8 hours ago, old nurse said:

Considering that May college players do not do well until their second or third year, these kids hitting well at that age is a good sign. Hopefully they are learning defense and baserunning, too. 

They're learning everything. They're high school age. Far from finished product. And again, gotta be careful with these numbers. Just check out stats in the DSL from Eduardo Beltre last year, or Yasser Mercedes and Jose Rodriguez in recent years. Then check out their FCL and eventually Ft. Myers...  

[twinstalker]

Many of us here seem to not really care what stats are important and which are not for regular minor leaguers.  We want to look at misleading ones and those out of context (slash lines, usually).  Well, if we like that, we'll really like DSL stats.

In A through AAA (four levels), BB walk rate is important only to determine who can't take a walk and who takes too many walks.  There is a range the BB% should be in, and if it's outside in either direction, that projects problems.  Taking a walk for your minor league team helps your minor league team win, which is fine for the minors.  It's meaningless toward projecting majors.

Walk rate is a big deal in the majors, which I think fools people into thinking it's good for a prospect to have as high a walk rate as possible.  It's not.  High walk rates in the minors is indicative of passivity.

Which brings us to DSL, where you and your brother and your brother's cousin are moving from the playgrounds to professional ball.  To put it mildly, the ball leaving a DSL pitcher's hand has no idea where it's going.  High walk rates mean nothing.

The stats that matter for a DSL batters are K rate, exit velocity, and barrel %.  Think of the kids you played baseball with when you started.  Those one or two kids who stood out didn't strike out and hit the ball really hard.  They certainly weren't taking walks, or if they were, they were intentional or balls thrown nowhere near the plate.  For the 2024 DSL one player stood out over all others with his K rate and EV (though not launch angles, ergo barrels), and that was Jesus Made.

We have no idea on EVs, but K rate is easy enough.  Haritzon Castillo has the best K rate, doesn't walk too much, and slashes well enough to indicate his EVs are probably at least decent.  He's probably your best Twins prospect in DSL, though I don't know if he's anything at all.

BTW, 10 of the 15 batters for the DSL Twins had an OBP 128 points higher than their batting avg.  Walks mean nothing in DSL.  Castillo wasn't one of the ten, which is a good sign.

[rdehring]

Thanks, Seth for this report, although I am getting to it a bit late.

What impressed me the most was that they spent real dollars, although not huge dollars, to sign a boat load of decent prospects.  Is there a Luis Arraez in this bunch.  Won't know for probably 6 or 7 years, which is well past the shelf life of many of us here.  But with this number of good prospects there is a real chance.

But thanks again, I loved it.

[ashbury]

On 9/17/2025 at 1:53 PM, twinstalker said:

Many of us here seem to not really care what stats are important and which are not for regular minor leaguers.  We want to look at misleading ones and those out of context (slash lines, usually).  Well, if we like that, we'll really like DSL stats.

In A through AAA (four levels), BB walk rate is important only to determine who can't take a walk and who takes too many walks.  There is a range the BB% should be in, and if it's outside in either direction, that projects problems.  Taking a walk for your minor league team helps your minor league team win, which is fine for the minors.  It's meaningless toward projecting majors.

Walk rate is a big deal in the majors, which I think fools people into thinking it's good for a prospect to have as high a walk rate as possible.  It's not.  High walk rates in the minors is indicative of passivity.

Which brings us to DSL, where you and your brother and your brother's cousin are moving from the playgrounds to professional ball.  To put it mildly, the ball leaving a DSL pitcher's hand has no idea where it's going.  High walk rates mean nothing.

The stats that matter for a DSL batters are K rate, exit velocity, and barrel %.  Think of the kids you played baseball with when you started.  Those one or two kids who stood out didn't strike out and hit the ball really hard.  They certainly weren't taking walks, or if they were, they were intentional or balls thrown nowhere near the plate.  For the 2024 DSL one player stood out over all others with his K rate and EV (though not launch angles, ergo barrels), and that was Jesus Made.

We have no idea on EVs, but K rate is easy enough.  Haritzon Castillo has the best K rate, doesn't walk too much, and slashes well enough to indicate his EVs are probably at least decent.  He's probably your best Twins prospect in DSL, though I don't know if he's anything at all.

BTW, 10 of the 15 batters for the DSL Twins had an OBP 128 points higher than their batting avg.  Walks mean nothing in DSL.  Castillo wasn't one of the ten, which is a good sign.

Lotta good stuff in there. 

Walks Will Haunt... in reverse!  😄

I've been an Emmanuel Rodriguez skeptic for a long while now, even though I'm at the same time intrigued.  Edouard Julien had a similar profile, and he did succeed when he reached the majors - until he didn't - so I don't think it's automatically a death knell.  But it's necessary to speculate and figure out, "what happens when to the walks when they go a way?  Because they will."  Major leaguers can throw strikes when they want to. Will the walks turn into strikeouts-looking, or weak contact, or something better if the batter's eye really is elite and he isn't just selective but effective?  In the latter case, those major league pitchers will continue to mix in a healthy ratio of walks.  Players who walk a lot in the really young leagues might still have a wide range of abilities that will eventually come out (or not).

 

[ashbury]

On 9/14/2025 at 7:37 PM, Seth Stohs said:

Jose Barrios was signed for $422,500.