Could Hendry Mendez Make Minnesota Twins' 2026 Opening Day Roster?

[bunsen82]

1 hour ago, tony&rodney said:

Why am I not enthused when people suggest adding additional slow, defensively challenged DH's to a team full of them? It is tough to pitch if one must strike out everyone because the defense is unstable.

Is he slow though - he has a 50 grade on running.   He had a .900 OPS at Wichita with a .460 OBP - for the year a .400 OBP.   The defense has been Ok but we do seem to be trying to plug people into our 1st base hole.  To me it seems we could use several good bats in the lineup.  Are you stating we have enough quality bats on the MLB team - because that seems to be the biggest concern I have heard.  

[DJL44]

13 minutes ago, bunsen82 said:

Is he slow though

I think the poster was talking about Arraez.

[Mike Sixel]

Interestingly, Fangraphs mentioned him as someone that could get a shot if he's great in teh AFL.....

[jmlease1]

1 hour ago, JD-TWINS said:

He lead the National League in hits the last two years with 200 & 181 respectively……gotta say that I don’t see those as “TWO DOWN YEARS” ……… he made $14M in ‘25.

I may be wrong but my assumption is somebody might think he’ll negotiate for more $$ going forward. His OPS wasn’t fantastic but he did play 154 games …….. 144 - 147 -150 games per season from ‘22-‘24 ……… he’s not fast but his knees seem to be holding up just fine………not really knowing the guys value and stats and not thinking the organization should consider plugging him into middle of current line-up doesn’t make sense.🙄

Clemens hit .205 for most of his last 3 months - that constitutes a “down year” and that was his best year. The team needs offense & Arraez can provide a positive - Clemens just takes up space.

He's getting on base at a lower clip than Austin Martin and hitting for about the same amount of power (almost none), with less speed and can only play one position in the field (and doesn't play it all that well; dude is not big and can't exactly stretch for much).

Yes, he gets hits: singles. By basically any metric he was significantly better in 2022 & 2023 than he was in 2024 or 2025. He swings at everything and pitchers know they don't have to fear him, but most of the time the worst that happens is they give up a single.

Look, he's not a bad player, but Arraez is deeply limited and the league knows it. It's why SD was trying to move off his contract and why he's going to be a free agent after this season. It's great that his knees have held up enough to keep him on the field, but there's a reason he's limited to almost exclusively playing 1B or DH now.

Mendez isn't ready yet, but trying to fill the 1B slot with Arraez seems like a poor use of very limited resources, especially if you want to pay him like he's Buxton. Hells bells, why not just slide Larnach over there if you really want to keep a slow LH who can't hit LHP?

[TopGunn#22]

All this indicates to me is that Arraez doesn't have a lot of leverage to get a salary much more than $5-$7 million a year.  He's elite in making contact.  The Twins could use that type of bat as opposed to "OPS God" Matt Wallner, a bona fide rally killer. 

Arraez has well known warts.  There are certainly better options for 1B but if I could get him at 3 years $5 million a year I just might do it.  

[jorgenswest]

I hope he shows enough in his reps at 1B that he gets a chance to play there in the Fall League. It is possible that he doesn’t have the hands and feet to play 1B. For some reason he didn’t get that opportunity with the Brewers or Phillies. It seems like both of those organizations would take a look at all of their corner outfielders and see if they can play 1B.

[Major League Ready]

On 10/4/2025 at 9:38 AM, TopGunn#22 said:

All this indicates to me is that Arraez doesn't have a lot of leverage to get a salary much more than $5-$7 million a year.  He's elite in making contact.  The Twins could use that type of bat as opposed to "OPS God" Matt Wallner, a bona fide rally killer. 

Arraez has well known warts.  There are certainly better options for 1B but if I could get him at 3 years $5 million a year I just might do it.  

I don't think we should try to lock down 3 years of mediocrity, especially in 2026.  Arraez has one strength but he is below average in every other aspect of the game.  Let's see if Mendez or Fedko can make the transition.  Maybe there is a trade to be made.  If that does not work, let's look at our options at this time next year but locking into an option that really isn't a solution in what will likely be a retooling (non-contending) year is not a good plan IMO.

[Chembry]

Mendez hit a HR in his first AB of the AZ fall league tonight. 

[jorgenswest]

Mendez is starting in RF in the first game of the AFL. Reds prospect Cam Collier is at 1B.

[Riverbrian]

I have a 1 game in person scouting report on Mendez that isn't worth anything. 

Sat in the 2nd row directly behind home plate on August 10th. One hit to show for it but he hit the ball hard every time.

So based on that one game. Call him Up!!! 😉

[bunsen82]

Winokur, Mendez, and Amick all on the same team.   Get them all some more at bats.   If Mendez begins to hit a few more home runs his profile really starts to get interesting.     1st game in the fall league is a good start.  

[IndianaTwin]

On 10/2/2025 at 4:24 PM, Dman said:

I don't know where you go to find a complete list, but I am such a prospect nerd I keep my own mainly based on Fangraphs info.  :Likely not complete but should give you an idea.  I think the top 6 are for sure's and you could argue Cardenas, Rosario and MaCleod belong as well, but that's a lot of names as is.

Connor Prielipp

Kendry Rojas

Andrew Morris

CJ Culpepper

John Klein

Gabriel Gonzalez

Hendry Mendez

Christian MacLeod

Kyler Fedko

Kala'I Rosario

Jose Olivaros

Noah Cardenas

Corey Lewis

Ricardo Olivar

Jaylen Nowlin

Anthony Prato

Alejandro Hidalgo

Cody Lawyeryson

Misael Urbina

Patrick Winkel

It appears Prato was let go at some point. He finished the season in Indianapolis in the Pirate system. 

[Dman]

9 hours ago, IndianaTwin said:

It appears Prato was let go at some point. He finished the season in Indianapolis in the Pirate system. 

Yeah those guys after the top 7 or 8 are all unlikely to get taken but are on the list because they are eligible and had some level of success to make it at some point.  I only updated the upper portion throughout the year the others were there since around last June when I started collecting the data because I like to know what areas the Twins should draft or trade from.

Prato was one of my favorite players but after his one exceptional half season he has never really put things together again in a way for him to look MLB ready.  He is a heck of a minor league player and anyone getting to AAA has likely proven they technically can play with the big boys, but not well enough to earn a spot.  Only so many spots.  We'll see if maybe he ends up like Helman and finds a job elsewhere. Given his stats that seems unlikely, but you never know.

[jorgenswest]

Eight games into the AFL season and Mendez has not played first base. The Twins reportedly were working him out at the position in August and September. Perhaps they determined he doesn’t have the tools to play the position. Really not surprising since both Milwaukee and Philadelphia did not play him at first base in the minors and like the Twins they played several of their minor leaguers in those teams at first base. I still hope to see him play there in the AFL but the reality of how hard it is to play any position in the major leagues is setting in.

I fear he is destined to be the next Larnach or Wallner for the next 6 years where there will be constant calls for the Twins to move him to first base. Let’s not do that with him. Not everyone has the tools to play first base,