Baseball America Names Saints as Minor’s Most Talented Roster

[Cody Christie]

There is no shortage of optimism in the Minnesota Twins system, and now there is some national validation to go with it. Baseball America released its rankings of the most talented minor league rosters entering the 2026 season, and the St. Paul Saints sit comfortably at the top.

According to Baseball America, St. Paul features four top 100 prospects and nine of the organization’s top 30. That kind of concentration is rare at the Triple-A level, where rosters are often a mix of up and down depth pieces and veteran placeholders. Instead, the Saints are rolling out a group that looks more like a future core than a temporary stop.

Leading the way is Walker Jenkins, ranked No. 5 overall. He is joined by Emmanuel Rodriguez at No. 57, Kaelen Culpepper at No. 74, and Connor Prielipp at No. 94. No other team in Baseball America’s top five has more than three players inside the top 100, giving St. Paul a clear edge when it comes to top-end talent.

The rest of the top five includes the Midland RockHounds, Arkansas Travelers, Indianapolis Indians, and Charlotte Knights. Those are strong systems in their own right, but none can match the combination of ceiling and proximity that the Saints currently possess.

St. Paul wasted little time showing what that might look like on the field. They opened the season by sweeping Indianapolis on the road, handling one of the other top-ranked rosters. That series came against Konnor Griffin, baseball’s top overall prospect, before he was called up to the big leagues on Friday.

From a Twins Daily perspective, the alignment is just as impressive. Four of the organization’s top five prospects are stationed in St. Paul, and six of the top ten are already at Triple A. The list reads like a snapshot of the next wave in Minnesota

• Walker Jenkins No. 1
• Kaelen Culpepper No. 2
• Emmanuel Rodriguez No. 3
• Connor Prielipp No. 5
• Gabriel Gonzalez No. 7
• Kendry Rojas No. 8
• Andrew Morris No. 12
• Marco Raya No. 15

For the Twins, this creates a different kind of pressure, the good kind. When injuries hit or production dips at the big league level, the answers are not coming from fringe depth. They are coming from players who have been developed with the expectation of contributing.

Ranking systems are useful, but they only go so far. What makes this St. Paul roster compelling is not just how it looks in March, but what it represents over the next six months. This is a pipeline reaching its most concentrated point, where development meets opportunity.

If even a handful of these players take the next step, the impact on Minnesota’s roster could be significant and immediate. The Saints roster is the best collection of talent to start the year, but in 2026, they feel much closer to something bigger.

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[Coach JT]

I have been saying it since last year . Fans will come back if you would call up the young guys and stop playing 29 to 31 year old re-treads . We can handle losing with young guys . 

[arby58]

18 minutes ago, Coach JT said:

I have been saying it since last year . Fans will come back if you would call up the young guys and stop playing 29 to 31 year old re-treads . We can handle losing with young guys . 

i had hoped the Twins would start the season with at least Emma on the 26 man roster and trade Larnach. Of course, Larnach has started 3 for 8 with a couple of doubles and 4 walks to 1 K. Last night, one of the '29 to 31 year old re-treads' Tristin Gray hit a grand slam and drove in 5 runs. 

[Jeff K]

3 hours ago, arby58 said:

i had hoped the Twins would start the season with at least Emma on the 26 man roster and trade Larnach. Of course, Larnach has started 3 for 8 with a couple of doubles and 4 walks to 1 K. Last night, one of the '29 to 31 year old re-treads' Tristin Gray hit a grand slam and drove in 5 runs. 

Hopefully Larnach is increasing his trade value.  He still has an iron glove and is in the way of all 4 outfielders at St. Paul.

[dxpavelka]

If / when injuries or any other reason to replenish the big league roster come and the team brings up guys like Jenkins, Culpepper & Rodriguez instead of finding dregs like Bride, Gasper, or Helman fans will react positivity.  If not, that's on the team.  

[dxpavelka]

3 hours ago, arby58 said:

i had hoped the Twins would start the season with at least Emma on the 26 man roster and trade Larnach. Of course, Larnach has started 3 for 8 with a couple of doubles and 4 walks to 1 K. Last night, one of the '29 to 31 year old re-treads' Tristin Gray hit a grand slam and drove in 5 runs. 

Of course games like last night will convince rubes and TD that the 30 year old re-tread needs to be in the lineup instead of the 25 year old. Same thinking that has kept this team from developing for decades. 

[Whammy]

1 hour ago, dxpavelka said:

Of course games like last night will convince rubes and TD that the 30 year old re-tread needs to be in the lineup instead of the 25 year old. Same thinking that has kept this team from developing for decades. 

I don’t think you have a good read on the rubes or TD

[Hrbowski]

1 hour ago, amjgt said:

I don’t think you have a good read on the rubes or TD

From my perspective, TD is always screaming for "the kids" to play, and as soon as they have played a season they are screaming for them to be replaced. See Brooks Lee, Trevor Larnach, Alex Kirilloff, Eddie Rosario, and soon to be Culpepper and E-Rod.

[Whammy]

Oops… wrong thread

[jkcarew]

Not much to show for it after the first week.

A huge negative run differential, and really bad pitching. Really bad. Pretty non-descript starts for most the ‘prospects’ at the plate and on the mound.

[dxpavelka]

20 hours ago, amjgt said:

I don’t think you have a good read on the rubes or TD

Pretty sure I do.  The only question is where do YOU fall on the spectrum?

[Whammy]

24 minutes ago, dxpavelka said:

Pretty sure I do.  The only question is where do YOU fall on the spectrum?

Larnach and Clemens serve no purpose and should be gone.

Outman can provide some value as the 25/26th man on a decent team. He can stick around for now. If he stinks though May, then Fedko can come up and play that role

Wallner has enough positive history that he should get a much longer leash than Larnach. Ride with him until midseason. If at that point he’s performing like last year or worse, then reduce his role. 

Ober, same as Wallner, but with less of a clear replacement so he probably gets the full season to prove if he can be serviceable at 89mph

ERod should be up in a week when his MLB service time clock stays at zero for 2026. Roden should also be up with the Larnach/Clemens exodus, but without any real service time concern. 

Culpepper and Jenkins can be midseason replacements for underperforming players (Like Wallner and Lee/Lewis), assuming they both keep performing well.

Prielipp? Not sure what the Twins are doing with him. I’d probably keep him as a starter through June to build up innings, then call him up and use him in the bullpen for the rest of the year. With the goal of getting him to 120 innings on the year

Zebby…. Find a role for him once he has a solid month at AAA. 

Anyone else?
 

 

[arby58]

On 4/4/2026 at 2:59 PM, Hrbowski said:

From my perspective, TD is always screaming for "the kids" to play, and as soon as they have played a season they are screaming for them to be replaced. See Brooks Lee, Trevor Larnach, Alex Kirilloff, Eddie Rosario, and soon to be Culpepper and E-Rod.

I don't think your memory is all that great. Eddie Rosario, for example, was productive for his first five years with the Twins, and I don't recall anybody (after phe posted a 2.3 WAR his rookie year) who was screaming for a replacement. It really wasn't until he was to hit free agency that many (including me) considered him not worth a longer term investment.

With Kirilloff, it wasn't on the field performance that derailed him, it was a chronic wrist injury. Meanwhile, fans have been more than patient with Royce Lewis - and, for that matter, as far back as Byron Buxton, who didn't hit much his first four years. Again, nobody (understanding his enormous potential and his great defensive value) was screaming for a new CF at that time.

[dxpavelka]

20 hours ago, amjgt said:

Larnach and Clemens serve no purpose and should be gone.

Outman can provide some value as the 25/26th man on a decent team. He can stick around for now. If he stinks though May, then Fedko can come up and play that role

Wallner has enough positive history that he should get a much longer leash than Larnach. Ride with him until midseason. If at that point he’s performing like last year or worse, then reduce his role. 

Ober, same as Wallner, but with less of a clear replacement so he probably gets the full season to prove if he can be serviceable at 89mph

ERod should be up in a week when his MLB service time clock stays at zero for 2026. Roden should also be up with the Larnach/Clemens exodus, but without any real service time concern. 

Culpepper and Jenkins can be midseason replacements for underperforming players (Like Wallner and Lee/Lewis), assuming they both keep performing well.

Prielipp? Not sure what the Twins are doing with him. I’d probably keep him as a starter through June to build up innings, then call him up and use him in the bullpen for the rest of the year. With the goal of getting him to 120 innings on the year

Zebby…. Find a role for him once he has a solid month at AAA. 

Anyone else?
 

 

Not sure how Emma / Roden replaces Larnach / Clemens unless one of them has learned to play the infield in the last week.  Someone over the weekend floated Culpepper at SS ,slide Lee to the corner and move Lewis across to 1B.  Been calling for that for about a year and a half.  That would decrease the need to have a Clemens on the roster.  I want to see all of Jenkins, Culpepper, Rodriguez (and probably Gonzalez & Prielipp) get major playing time this year as well and as much sense as it makes the corresponding blood letting, while fans SHOULD cheer for it, many will jeer it as an extension of last year's trade deadline moves.

[Whammy]

19 minutes ago, dxpavelka said:

Not sure how Emma / Roden replaces Larnach / Clemens unless one of them has learned to play the infield in the last week.  Someone over the weekend floated Culpepper at SS ,slide Lee to the corner and move Lewis across to 1B.  Been calling for that for about a year and a half.  That would decrease the need to have a Clemens on the roster.  I want to see all of Jenkins, Culpepper, Rodriguez (and probably Gonzalez & Prielipp) get major playing time this year as well and as much sense as it makes the corresponding blood letting, while fans SHOULD cheer for it, many will jeer it as an extension of last year's trade deadline moves.

Given how extraneous Clemens is, I think it actually can work. It just means more time for Bell and/Caratini at 1B and probably more time for Wallner at DH.

Not perfect, but doable. 

[Rosterman]

Weather, school happening, yet the Saints attendance has been absolute dismal. This from a team that for years in the horible (yet fun) Midway Stadium never had an emptespecially when talking bullpen).y seat.

There is still a lot of fodder on the Saints roster that should be disappearing soon, too many minor elague free agents. But, yes, a core of talented guys redy to step up... especially when you look at the current Twins roster and there is a good chance that 15 PLAYERS currently on the Traget Field will have no business being there come 2027. A team seldom advances more than 2-3-4 prospects each year into fulltime slots (maybe add a couple of parttimers, especially bullpen arms). Now the question is who comes up mid-season and who definitely comes up come September to egt an advance taste.

And what will the Twins do for 2027. Tom Pohlad says our current team is competitive. Well, maybe. But a lot of placesetters are here. But there will be growing pains with prospects on the major league level.

With the fun "Ushertainers" and decent food, and some solid bats and promising rotation arms pitching 3-4 innings, the Saints should be the game to watch.

Now the next question, who will advance from AA or A ball, also, to the Saints?

[jorgenswest]

We will know this is correct is several start graduating to the majors.

Let’s see Culpepper at shortstop. Jenkins and Rodriguez in the outfield. Gonzalez and/or Roden at 1B. Matthews, Prielipp, Rojas and Raya on the pitching staff.

Does it all need to be today? No. I don’t think pitchers are even eligible to return to the majors after being optioned. I think batters have passed their 10 day requirement.

Let’s not wait until August though. Rodriguez has one option left. Let’s get him a shot in the majors now so if a reset is needed we have time to return to AAA and come back to the big club in this last option. Roden needs to face major league pitching. Reacquaint him to first base so he has some more positional flexibility and then bring him up. Give Culpepper, Jenkins and Gonzalez two months and then based on performance bring them up. On the pitcher side let’s get Prielipp and Matthews a few starts in good weather and be aggressive in calling them up to face major league hitters even if in the bullpen. Rojas and Raya need a longer run of sustained performance but they should plan for them to get two months of major league hitters.

[Whammy]

All this talk about these right handed AAA infielders (Culpepper at SS and Gonzalez at 1B) getting called up this year has me thinking that the lefthanded Tristan Gray selection as back up SS to start the year might have been a bit of foretelling. 

Because if by May you've got Lewis, Culpepper, Keaschall, Bell as your primary infielders from left to right, then having Gray and Gonzalez as your backups (or pushing Bell to DH) actually looks to have good platoon/days off flexibility. 

[Linus]

I’m excited we have legitimate prospects at AAA. I will be really excited if they perform in the big leagues. It’s a big jump and not all of these guys will make it but there is only one way to find out so let’s go.