Twins Daily 2025 Dominican Summer League Twins Pitcher of the Year

[Seth Stohs]

This week, we've been handing out awards to the Twins short-season teams, the Florida Complex League and the Dominican Summer League. In the past, we had lumped these two teams together for "short season" awards. However, the FCL Twins schedule started a couple of weeks sooner, and they finished a few weeks before the DSL Twins did. These are different leagues. 

FCL Twins Hitter of the Year
FCL Twins Pitcher of the Year
DSL Twins Hitter of the Year 

Let's get to our fourth minor-league award, the Dominican Summer League Pitcher of the Year. Let's start with a couple of honorable mentions before getting to the top guys.

Honorable Mention
Eliezer Lucena (17): 3-0, 3.35 ERA, 11 G, 1 GS, 37 2/3 IP, 38 H, 19 BB, 31 K
Yordi Jose (18): 0-1, 2.08 ERA, 7 G, 0 GS, 8 2/3 IP, 7 H, 5 BB, 11 K (video)

Honorably Honorable Mention 
Geremy Villoria (17): 0-1, 3.68 ERA, 8 G, 8 GS, 22 IP, 20 H, 7 BB, 24 K 
The Twins acquired the then-16-year-old Villoria from the Phillies in the Harrison Bader trade. He is one of the youngest players in the league, the Phillies signed him for $425,000. In fact, he didn’t turn 17 until after the season was complete. Already 6-3 and 180 pounds, Villoria has room to grow, but he’s already hitting the mid-90s with his fastball. He also has the makings of a solid changeup and breaking ball. He had made five starts and thrown 14 innings. In his time with the Twins, he made three starts and threw just eight innings. But combined, he posted a 3.68 ERA, and in his 22 innings, he gave up 20 hits, walked just seven and had 24 strikeouts. 

#3: Jensi Infante (18): 2-0, 1 save, 3.47 ERA, 16 G, 2 GS, 23 1/3 IP, 17 H, 17 BB, 17 K. 
Infante was already 18 when he signed with the Twins in January. The Astros have had some success signing older pitchers in the international market (yes, “older” meaning 18…). They typically sign for less, and scouts know a little more about what that pitcher can be. Infante was solid, but unspectacular. Too many walks. Not enough strikeouts. But he did alright at limiting runs against him. He’s 6-3 and still quite thin. Can he gain size and strength? If so, he can take strides. 

#2: Rey Pacheco (18): 5-2, 1 save, 3.00 ERA, 16 G, 3 GS, 33 IP, 32 H, 7 BB, 31 K. 
Pacheco had just turned 18 when he signed with the Twins in January out of Mexico. He was the DSL team’s reliable pitcher throughout their season. He came in in a variety of situations. Early in the season, he was brought into the games late just to finish a long game. Later in the season, he started coming into the middle innings in key situations. He ended the season with three starts. He threw three or more innings in his final five outings. Nothing overly spectacular, but he generally threw strikes which, if you follow the Dominican Summer League, isn’t always a given.  

#1 RHP Santiago Castellanos (17): 1-2, 2.79 ERA, 9 G, 8 GS, 29 IP, 23 H, 9 BB, 36 K
Like Villoria, Castellanos was one of the youngest players in the Dominican Summer League, and hence, in professional baseball. He didn’t turn 17 until halfway through July. In January, Castellanos was one of the top pitchers in Venezuela in the 2025 class. The Twins signed him for $247,500. Castellanos is 5-11, and tiny, maybe 160 pounds, but he is young and has room to grow. However, even before signing he was hitting 97 mph on the radar gun with his fastball. Again, he was just 16. He also has a curveball that spins well and produces a sharp break. He’s also been working on a changeup. Now, with his youth, he’s got a long way to go, and plenty to improve upon. And that will happen. He also just needs to be more consistent (that is true of many big-league pitchers too).  

For me, what impressed me most, as much as his ability to throw so hard at such a young age, is his control. Of 24 players who pitched for the DSL Twins in 2025, 10 of them had more walks than strikeouts. Two others had the same number of walks as strikeouts. Meanwhile, in his 29 innings, Castellanos had just nine walks to go with 36 strikeouts. 

There are several Twins pitching and development coaches in the Dominican Summer League. One of those coaches said of the young hurler, “Santiago has a natural ability to throw strikes with all of his pitches and pairs that with a really clean delivery that allows him to produce good velocity for his age.” He continued, “We’re really excited to see him continue to work on the consistency of his shapes and command of all his pitches, as well as add more velocity as he gets older.”

Congratulations to Castellanos and these other pitchers on a strong debut pro season, and best of luck and health to each of them! 

View full article

[Dman]

DSL players are always so hard to project moving forward as the stats mean very little and they are generally so young.  I thought it was a good pickup to get Villoria in the Bader trade. Pair him with Santiago and the Twins could have two good young arms coming up.  When they get stateside they will help supplement the drafted arms at A ball which will hopefully create a wave of arms.

The notes on Santiago are very encouraging.  I hope he is the next big thing for the Twins, but we will likely have to wait a while to find out just how good he can be.

[Blyleven2011]

Many years ago , if you could throw 95 or higher and throw strikes,  you were on the roster regardless of age ...

Get  Santiago stateside , get sone weight on him and maybe he could move up fast and hit the majors at 20 yrs old with proper coaching  ...

It could happen and  would  be  a credit to  our development squad ...

[rdehring]

Thanks Seth.  Haven't followed the rookie leagues like I used to, thus, really appreciate your end of the season discussion about who we should be watching going forward.

Hope like heck one of these young pitchers makes it to the Twins.  And is good when he gets here.  Keep taxing my brain but I cannot come up with any International pitcher the Twins signed and developed who actually made it to the Twins.  Much less was good when he got here.  Considering how many good Latin pitchers are in the league, that is a huge failure of the Twins organization.

Is there someone I am missing?  

[Blyleven2011]

1 hour ago, rdehring said:

Thanks Seth.  Haven't followed the rookie leagues like I used to, thus, really appreciate your end of the season discussion about who we should be watching going forward.

Hope like heck one of these young pitchers makes it to the Twins.  And is good when he gets here.  Keep taxing my brain but I cannot come up with any International pitcher the Twins signed and developed who actually made it to the Twins.  Much less was good when he got here.  Considering how many good Latin pitchers are in the league, that is a huge failure of the Twins organization.

Is there someone I am missing?  

I too struggle with international pitchers who have made the major league club , there's got to be some relief pitchers that had a taste but I can't think of any ...

Does berrios count out of Puerto Rico , taken in the draft ???  ....

 

[rdehring]

1 hour ago, Blyleven2011 said:

I too struggle with international pitchers who have made the major league club , there's got to be some relief pitchers that had a taste but I can't think of any ...

Does berrios count out of Puerto Rico , taken in the draft ???  ....

 

Not really because he was a high draft pick.  My comments were related to International signings who for as hard as I try I can't think of anyone.

[Patrick Wozniak]

6 hours ago, rdehring said:

Thanks Seth.  Haven't followed the rookie leagues like I used to, thus, really appreciate your end of the season discussion about who we should be watching going forward.

Hope like heck one of these young pitchers makes it to the Twins.  And is good when he gets here.  Keep taxing my brain but I cannot come up with any International pitcher the Twins signed and developed who actually made it to the Twins.  Much less was good when he got here.  Considering how many good Latin pitchers are in the league, that is a huge failure of the Twins organization.

Is there someone I am missing?  

Fernando Romero...though not a huge success story.

[DocBauer]

I really appreciate articles like these on the DSL. As closely as I follow the Twins MILB system, the FCL is hard to keep track of except for about half the roster that I recognize from recent drafts, and top performers from the DSL reports like these that help me key in on specific players.

Once I read all the various reports on their initial signings, the names just become a blur many months later when we're reading MILB reports and checking out box scores for 16-17-18yo kids that are years away.

But again, I really appreciate the work put in here because I begin to hold names in memory for the next season of the FCL. 

[twinsfansd]

16 hours ago, rdehring said:

Not really because he was a high draft pick.  My comments were related to International signings who for as hard as I try I can't think of anyone.

Duran l

 

[rdehring]

1 hour ago, twinsfansd said:

Duran l

 

The Twins acquired Duran in a trade.  My comment was specifically about players signed by the Twins who later played with the Twins.  Patrick mentioned Fernando Romero and there may have been a few others with a cup of coffee.  My point was that I cannot remember anyone who became an established Twins pitcher who they signed as a young kid from the International signing periods.

[twinstalker]

Good to see a pitcher or two who actually look like they could be promoted.  Twins pitching development hasn't been a problem.  Wonder how that throw-in to the Bader trade did.