Taking Stock of Minnesota Twins' 2024 Draft Class

[Cody Christie]

Image courtesy of William Parmeter (photo of Dasan Hill)

The 2024 MLB Draft marked a pivotal moment for the Minnesota Twins, as the front office aimed to inject the system with high-end athleticism and safer, polished hitters. Over 16 months later, the results are starting to take shape. While it is still early in the development cycle, the 2025 season offered the first real indicators of who is rising and who still has work to do. 

Here is a look at how the top selections performed, and whether their stock is trending up or down.

SS Kaelen Culpepper (1st Round, 21st Overall)
Culpepper wasted no time proving he was worth a first-round bet. After showing brief flashes during his pro debut in 2024, he took a significant step forward this past season. His plus bat speed helped him drive the ball to all fields, and he trimmed his strikeout rate (17.4%) while maintaining a strong walk rate (9.7%). He finished the year slashing .289/.375/.469, with a 138 wRC+. The Twins named him the organization’s Minor League Player of the Year. 

At the time of the draft, there were questions about whether or not Culpepper could stick at shortstop. After 2025, Culpepper looks capable of sticking on the left side of the infield thanks to quick reactions and smooth hands, and he finished the year as a steady highlight reel at shortstop. His stock is way up because he showed both a higher offensive ceiling and a more stable defensive floor than projected. He now looks like a potential impact player for the Twins as early as 2026.
Stock: Way Up

IF Kyle DeBarge (1st Round, 33rd Overall)
DeBarge entered pro ball known for elite defensive ability, and he only strengthened that reputation by winning a Rawlings Gold Glove after the 2025 season. His range and consistency anchor his value, and he displayed exceptional body control at both shortstop and second base. Offensively, DeBarge is still more contact-oriented than impact-driven (107 wRC+), but his bat-to-ball skills make him an annoyance at the plate for pitchers. However, he stole 66 bases to add to his offensive value. His stock is up because the defense is already top-tier, and the offensive floor appears solid enough for a future big league utility role with a chance for more.
Stock: Up

3B Billy Amick (2nd Round, 60th Overall)
Amick was drafted for his right-handed power, but his 2025 season exposed some concerns. Pitchers attacked him with elevated velocity and late-breaking spin, and his chase rate climbed (26.3 K%) throughout the year. While the raw power still flashes (150 wRC+), he struggled to translate it consistently in games. After being limited to 59 games, Minnesota sent him to the AFL, but he struggled by going 1-for-30 (.033 BA) with a 20-to-8 strikeout-to-walk ratio. His stock is down because the swing and approach need refinement before he can unlock his offensive upside.
Stock: Down

SP Dasan Hill (2nd Round, 69th Overall)
Hill was viewed as a projection pick, and the early returns are encouraging with Twins Daily already ranking him in the organization’s top-10 prospects. His fastball ticked up into the upper 90s, and he showed improved command to both sides of the plate. Even more promising was the development of his sweeper, which added late bite and became a legitimate out pitch. Hill still needs to build stamina and sharpen his changeup, but the athleticism and strike-throwing are trending in the right direction. In 19 starts this season, the 19-year-old posted a 3.19 ERA with a 31.1 K% and a 15.0 BB%. His stock is up because his raw tools are beginning to translate into real on-field results.
Stock: Up

C Khadim Diaw (3rd Round, 96th Overall)
Diaw made one of the biggest leaps in the class in 2025, as his offensive game took off. His strong frame produces natural power, and he showed a more controlled swing path, allowing him to drive pitches in the strike zone (161 wRC+). He also started gaining national attention with ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel placing Diaw in Minnesota’s top-10 prospects earlier this season. Unfortunately, he dealt with multiple injuries in college and missed time with a broken thumb last season. His stock is up because he blended production with projection and looked more like a long-term piece in the system.  
Stock: Up

OF Jaime Ferrer (4th Round, 126th Overall)
Ferrer was known for his raw pop when the Twins drafted him (1.083 OPS in his junior season), but his year was marked by inconsistency. First basemen and corner outfielders must hit for power, and he was limited to a .339 SLG and an 82 wRC+. Opposing pitchers exploited holes up in the zone, and his timing drifted as the season progressed. While he can still do damage on mistake pitches, his overall contact quality dipped, and his defensive profile remains limited to a corner outfield spot. His stock is down because the hit tool questions have grown louder, and he will need to make adjustments heading into 2026.  
Stock: Down

OF Caden Kendle (5th Round, 159th Overall)
Kendle entered the organization as an older but polished bat with strong plate discipline. Unfortunately, his 2025 performance plateaued. He posted a solid on-base percentage (.323 OBP) but did not impact the ball with enough authority (.382 SLG) to stand out. His limited power narrows his margin for error, and he will need to unlock more extra base damage to rise through the system. His stock is down because his offensive output did not match the expectations for a player with his college track record.  
Stock: Down

The 2024 draft class already shows signs of paying dividends for the Twins, particularly with Culpepper, DeBarge, Hill, and Diaw emerging as early success stories. Others will require more time and development, but the organization can feel optimistic about the foundation laid by this group.

What stands out about this group? How would you grade their stock so far? Leave a comment and start the discussion.

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[Cory Engelhardt]

Only quibble is Dasan Hill should be way up instead of up. 

[Nashvilletwin]

DeBarge replaces Lee on the post-lockout ‘28 projected position player roster as utility IF.  With his speed, better glove, and peskiness at the plate, he’s a likely better late inning option.  He might even battle Houston for the starting SS spot.  (Note: assuming we win the draft, Chowolsky is at 3B, Culpepper is at 2B, and Keaschall is at 1B; if we don’t draft Chowolsky, Lewis could be at 3B - he’ll get 2026 to make his case).

[old nurse]

Kisting, a late round draft pick provided an arm from Tampa Bay to be the future closer for the Twins 

[mikelink45]

Thanks - I liked this summary.  Amick is my biggest disappointment.  When I watched him in Cedar Rapids I was unimpressed, but knew it was too little a sample to make a judgment.  But some players have an aura of success even on bad days. 

[Cody Christie]

58 minutes ago, Cory Engelhardt said:

Only quibble is Dasan Hill should be way up instead of up. 

I thought that last night after I had the story on the site. 

[jmlease1]

I'm not nearly as high on DeBarge as some. Sure the steals are fun, but it's A-ball, where the catching is all over the place, and the pitchers are wildly inconsistent at holding runners on. The real issue is all pop vanished from his bat by June, and his hitting got worse and worse as the season went along. If we're supposed to be concerned about Amick because of how he finished the season and his struggles in the AFL (during an injury-riddled season), shouldn't we be at least as concerned about DeBarge who finished the season looking lost and overwhelmed at the plate? Lot of K's for someone with no power. The walks will decline rapidly as he goes up in levels if he can't show he can make contact and do damage, so even if the steals are an indicator or being a weapon on the bases, what good will it do if he can't get on there consistently? For me his stock didn't change much, with the decline at the plate throughout the season offsetting the speed/defense last season.

Impressed with Hill and Culpepper. We'll see if anyone else emerges.

[UK Twin]

The Correa trade was a massive shock at the time but it does give Culpepper a clear path to being the Twins SS from as soon as 2026. Looks like the Twins struck gold with him. 

[FlyingFinn]

Many of us wanted more speed and better defense to go along with good hitting. Culpepper is checking those boxes. DeBarge has the first two with an A grade. Is he Noah Miller with more speed or can he hit better than him. League average hitting/OBP and he's in MLB some day.

[DJL44]

51 minutes ago, jmlease1 said:

I'm not nearly as high on DeBarge as some. Sure the steals are fun, but it's A-ball, where the catching is all over the place, and the pitchers are wildly inconsistent at holding runners on. The real issue is all pop vanished from his bat by June, and his hitting got worse and worse as the season went along. If we're supposed to be concerned about Amick because of how he finished the season and his struggles in the AFL (during an injury-riddled season), shouldn't we be at least as concerned about DeBarge who finished the season looking lost and overwhelmed at the plate? Lot of K's for someone with no power. The walks will decline rapidly as he goes up in levels if he can't show he can make contact and do damage, so even if the steals are an indicator or being a weapon on the bases, what good will it do if he can't get on there consistently? For me his stock didn't change much, with the decline at the plate throughout the season offsetting the speed/defense last season.

Impressed with Hill and Culpepper. We'll see if anyone else emerges.

I agree. If you had to do the 2024 draft all over again, there is no way DeBarge goes 33rd overall. His stock is trending down.

[chpettit19]

1 hour ago, jmlease1 said:

I'm not nearly as high on DeBarge as some. Sure the steals are fun, but it's A-ball, where the catching is all over the place, and the pitchers are wildly inconsistent at holding runners on. The real issue is all pop vanished from his bat by June, and his hitting got worse and worse as the season went along. If we're supposed to be concerned about Amick because of how he finished the season and his struggles in the AFL (during an injury-riddled season), shouldn't we be at least as concerned about DeBarge who finished the season looking lost and overwhelmed at the plate? Lot of K's for someone with no power. The walks will decline rapidly as he goes up in levels if he can't show he can make contact and do damage, so even if the steals are an indicator or being a weapon on the bases, what good will it do if he can't get on there consistently? For me his stock didn't change much, with the decline at the plate throughout the season offsetting the speed/defense last season.

Impressed with Hill and Culpepper. We'll see if anyone else emerges.

Came to say almost the exact same thing. I'd actually have DeBarge's arrow pointing down, but not straight down by any means. That wRC+ number is quite deceiving. Him not moving up a level says a lot more, in my opinion. He got overwhelmed by pitching the second half of last year. He wasn't good enough for a promotion, and, as a college guy, that's a downward arrow on his stock. 

The glove and speed are there, and the Twins certainly need more athleticism, but if he doesn't figure out the bat relatively significantly, he isn't making it out of AA. Will be interesting to see where they start him this year.

[DJL44]

If you're looking at a redraft 18 months later, then you would see these grades

Culpepper - up

DeBarge - down

Amick - down

Hill - up 

Diaw - flat

Ferrer - down

Kendle - down

Nick Kurtz might go #1 now instead of #4 and Payton Tolle at #50 looks like a great pick by the Red Sox.

[bunsen82]

I am left scratching my head on this entire article with more questions or rebukes  than agreeing.  

1.  Culpepper - I think we can all agree his stock is way up and he looks like a long term option at SS. The defense is solid to plus and the bat was better than expected and plays extremely well at SS.   

2. Debarge -  I would have flat to slightly down.  Both Culpepper and Debarge were picked for their bat tools,   Yes the defense and speed was nice,  but the bat was no where near what I was expected for a player that was supposed to have high contact rates and low strikeouts.  

3.  Amick -  I don't know how anyone could come away from this season and not see an up arrow if not massive up arrow.   He came into the system with 2 major question marks.  1 was defense.   2 was lots of holes in his swings and concern about offspeed.    At high A  he had a slash line of .310/.418/.455 (good for .873 OPS).  He also had major concerns on his defense and his speed and reaction and overall defense was better than expected.  He went from an expected below average defender at 3rd,  to respectable,  and possibly average to above average defender.  The Twins are also trying him at 1st base.   The 2 slight downers on the season - were 1.  a decrease in power which could have been due to his wrist injury  and 2. his AFL numbers 1-30.  But lets look further into his fall league - even as bad/unlucky struggled - he still had a .293 OBP. The ugly was 20 strikeouts in 30 at bats (so only put the ball in play 10 at bats).   For SSS, I don't know how much we would want to look into this.  Is this a precursor of things to come, maybe.   Even still,  for a player picked at 60 who had major concerns,  I don't know how anyone can come away with not being extremely pleased with his season.  This one just makes me scratch my head.  You will give an up arrow to debarge but a down arrow to Amick when Amick had much better stats at the same level.   

4. Dasan Hill - way up.   He has legit stuff and as he continues to mature the sky is the limit.  

5.  Ferrer - this is another one that scratches my head.  Yes the bat struggled some.  I cannot deny that,  however when we drafted him in the 4th round it was as an outfielder.  As an outfielder the bat absolutely does not play.  However it appears we are converting him back to a catcher.  Considering we were playing him at multiple positions and now at catcher,  I am willing to give Ferrer a pass this year.   So arrow for me is neutral.    He showed flashes but had a couple rough months.   

6. I missed Diaw.   I would agree up - I would venture to say way up.   The bat plays extremely well.  The only concern for me is health.  

 

[jmlease1]

2 minutes ago, bunsen82 said:

  3.  Amick -  I don't know how anyone could come away from this season and not see an up arrow if not massive up arrow.   He came into the system with 2 major question marks.  1 was defense.   2 was lots of holes in his swings and concern about offspeed.    At high A  he had a slash line of .310/.418/.455 (good for .873 OPS).  He also had major concerns on his defense and his speed and reaction and overall defense was better than expected.  He went from an expected below average defender at 3rd,  to respectable,  and possibly average to above average defender.  The Twins are also trying him at 1st base.   The 2 slight downers on the season - were 1.  a decrease in power which could have been due to his wrist injury  and 2. his AFL numbers 1-30.  But lets look further into his fall league - even as bad/unlucky struggled - he still had a .293 OBP. The ugly was 20 strikeouts in 30 at bats (so only put the ball in play 10 at bats).   For SSS, I don't know how much we would want to look into this.  Is this a precursor of things to come, maybe.   Even still,  for a player picked at 60 who had major concerns,  I don't know how anyone can come away with not being extremely pleased with his season.  This one just makes me scratch my head.  You will give an up arrow to debarge but a down arrow to Amick when Amick had much better stats at the same level.   

 

I don't know if I'm ready to give an up arrow to Amick, but unless you're really taking the AFL struggles as a sign of what's to come, he has to stay flat at least. The injuries were a bummer; he has to stay on the field. But he handled things quite well in Cedar Rapids with respectable power and patience throughout the season. There's no "horrible second half" for him as much as "didn't play enough". And I agree: the defense was better than advertised at 3B, enough that it's more than reasonable to keep playing him there while also giving him time at 1B. Amick had a pretty successful season, marred only by health.

It'll be interesting to see where DeBarge and Amick start the season in 2026 and might tell some things about where the Twins see their stock...

[TopGunn#22]

Culpepper is generating a lot of Buzz, and it is earned and understandable.  He will almost certainly be a Minnesota Twin at some point next year.

Amick came from a very high profile college program that got him a lot of exposure in the College World Series.  I think his wrist injury hampered him terribly over the last half of the season and especially in the AFL.  I would give him an INCOMPLETE.  But he needs to really show something this season.  I like that he's getting reps at 1B and that his defense at 3B is showing marked improvement.  

Dasan Hill is and always has been the guy that sticks out to me.  I loved watching video of him when we first picked him.  A lanky, 6:4 lefty SP with a smooth delivery.  And now it appears his fastball is hitting 99 and his sweeper has shown tremendous improvement.  As always, command and control are the keys, but he looks to me to be a guy that could jump a couple levels next year.  A true "HIT" on a talented southpaw High School pitcher.  

 

[rdehring]

Great report, Cody.  Thanks.

My one question is whether there were others that merit discussion taken in the later rounds?  Or is another report coming?

A team does very well if they can get one solid or better starter out of every draft.  Add another pick who is a solid player for at least six years along with a couple guys who get some playing time and you have a good draft.  Sure looks like this draft has the makings of having at least two who will become very good makes it a plus draft, assuming that happens.

[Seth Stohs]

4 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

Thanks - I liked this summary.  Amick is my biggest disappointment.  When I watched him in Cedar Rapids I was unimpressed, but knew it was too little a sample to make a judgment.  But some players have an aura of success even on bad days. 

He came out on fire to start the season. In fact, before the end of April we were all wondering how long he'd be in Cedar Rapids... but then came the oblique injury, and that cost him a couple of months, and then he did it again and lost more time. No surprise that he'd have been a bit hesitant to swing too hard with that injury. So, I wanna see where he's at next spring, after hopefully not swinging too much for a couple of months. 

[DJL44]

1 hour ago, rdehring said:

My one question is whether there were others that merit discussion taken in the later rounds?  Or is another report coming?

Cole Peschl has been okay

[Twinkies are for eating]

Who will be scouting the current and future crop of prospects for the Twins? Mr. Burns, I mean Carl Pohlads grandson? Didn’t the P’s fire all of the Twins scouts? Last I checked it’s a pretty important aspect of a successful team.  Maybe the Twins will be that at some point in my lifetime.

[Trov]

Some have said DeBarge should be considered a down stock from draft, due to not having as much bat as was hoping.  However, his OBP is reasonable .347, could it be higher sure, but being that he walked at high rate, that normally carries to each level, and if he can still steal at the rate he does, he will have value. Also, if he can defend multiple positions at above average that hold huge value too.  Think of Willie Castro as a possible comp. 

[DJL44]

50 minutes ago, Trov said:

Some have said DeBarge should be considered a down stock from draft, due to not having as much bat as was hoping.  However, his OBP is reasonable .347, could it be higher sure, but being that he walked at high rate, that normally carries to each level, and if he can still steal at the rate he does, he will have value. Also, if he can defend multiple positions at above average that hold huge value too.  Think of Willie Castro as a possible comp. 

I agree that he could be a utility infielder but obviously that's not what you want from the #33 pick in the draft. He's also clearly not the 33rd best MLB prospect who was drafted in 2024. Therefore, down arrow.

[twinstalker]

LOL.  Kyle DeBarge was a 1st rd pick.  His stock is not remotely "up."

After not impressing at all at low A, he got promoted to A+ in 2025.  That's the level that college first rounders should start unless the idea is to get their feet wet with a few low A ABs.  Like Culpepper did.  DeBarge couldn't really handle low A, 

DeBarge also couldn't handle A+ in his age 21/22 season this past year, putting up the same poor hitting stats he did at low A after being drafted.  This all fits with the scouting report the Twins should have read prior to drafting him:  he couldn't hit major conference pitching in college.

Overall his K rate is 22.6% in leagues where his age is a bit old for a top prospect.  And that 22.6% is too high for his profile (and age and level).  It was a bad pick, and it's turned out exactly as you'd expect.  If/when he makes it to the majors, it won't be in any way impactful except in the negative.

So, if you knew how bad the Twins drafting of him (and he was ranked much lower on the consensus draft board), you might be generous and say his stock is the same.  But most people were okay with the pick, in which case his stock should be way down.  It's one of the many disasters of this Twins drafting regime.

[Linus]

15 hours ago, twinstalker said:

LOL.  Kyle DeBarge was a 1st rd pick.  His stock is not remotely "up."

After not impressing at all at low A, he got promoted to A+ in 2025.  That's the level that college first rounders should start unless the idea is to get their feet wet with a few low A ABs.  Like Culpepper did.  DeBarge couldn't really handle low A, 

DeBarge also couldn't handle A+ in his age 21/22 season this past year, putting up the same poor hitting stats he did at low A after being drafted.  This all fits with the scouting report the Twins should have read prior to drafting him:  he couldn't hit major conference pitching in college.

Overall his K rate is 22.6% in leagues where his age is a bit old for a top prospect.  And that 22.6% is too high for his profile (and age and level).  It was a bad pick, and it's turned out exactly as you'd expect.  If/when he makes it to the majors, it won't be in any way impactful except in the negative.

So, if you knew how bad the Twins drafting of him (and he was ranked much lower on the consensus draft board), you might be generous and say his stock is the same.  But most people were okay with the pick, in which case his stock should be way down.  It's one of the many disasters of this Twins drafting regime.

Unfortunately your assessment is accurate. The other reason I was concerned about the pick was scouts were pretty certain he was never going to stick at SS.