A One-Dimensional Roster Is Exposing a Long-Building Problem for Twins

[Cody Christie]

Image courtesy of William Parmeter

 

There's no easy way to spin the numbers, because they're as stark as they come. The Minnesota Twins currently have 36 players on their 40-man roster who were born in the United States or Puerto Rico. Even more telling, until they called up Kendry Rojas, their 26-man roster did not feature a single player born outside those areas. That's not just unusual. It's the most extreme concentration of American-born talent for any team in Major League Baseball, and it points directly to an organizational blind spot that has been years in the making.

For a sport that has become increasingly global, Minnesota's lack of international presence stands out. Around the league, teams consistently rely on talent pipelines from the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, and beyond to fill out both their rosters and farm systems. The Twins, at least right now, are not doing that at the same level.

When looking deeper into the roster construction, the issue becomes even clearer. The Twins do have a handful of foreign-born players on the 40-man roster, including Emmanuel Rodriguez, Gabriel Gonzalez, Rojas, and Hendry Mendez. But only Rodriguez was originally signed by the organization. The rest were acquired through trades, which undercuts the idea of a strong, homegrown international pipeline.

That distinction matters. Gonzalez arrived in the Jorge Polanco deal. Rojas came over in a swap involving Louis Varland. Mendez was part of the return for Harrison Bader. The Twins are finding international talent, but they're not developing enough of it themselves.

Beyond Rodriguez, the cupboard is not exactly overflowing with elite international prospects close to the majors. Eduardo Tait is the next notable name, and is the only foreign-born player on Twins Daily’s top 20 prospects list who is not already on the 40-man roster. He joined the system in last summer’s deal involving Jhoan Duran, reinforcing the same pattern.

There are, however, signs of life in the lower levels. Adrian Bohorquez turned heads with a dominant stretch run last season, posting a 2.47 ERA and holding opponents to a .185 average after July 1. His ability to miss bats stands out, backed by a strong strikeout profile that suggests legitimate upside if his development continues on this path.

Similarly, Santiago Castellanos made an immediate impression in the Dominican Summer League. His 2.79 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, and eye-catching strikeout rate over a limited sample created early buzz—the kind the organization has not consistently generated from its international classes in recent years.

Another intriguing addition is Enrique Jimenez, who was once a top-50 international prospect and came over from Detroit in the trade involving Chris Paddack. Jimenez responded with a .982 OPS in a brief stint after joining the organization, offering a glimpse of what a higher-ceiling international bat could look like in this system.

Still, those names represent projection more than certainty. The Twins’ recent international signing classes, including players like Daiber De Los Santos, Eduardo Beltre, Victor Leal Jr., Santiago Leon, Haritzon Castillo, and Teilon Serrano, are filled with lottery tickets rather than near-term impact players. That's par for the course for international markets, but the Twins have lacked the volume of hits needed to balance that risk.

Part of the explanation lies in organizational change. In 2024, longtime international scouting leader Fred Guerrero departed after nearly two decades with the club. Minnesota brought in Roman Barinas from the Los Angeles Dodgers and shifted oversight to assistant general manager Daniel Adler, while also adding Kevin Goldstein as a special assistant following his time with the Houston Astros.

Those are meaningful changes, but they come with a built-in delay. International prospects are often signed at 16 years old, and development timelines can stretch six or more years before a player is ready to impact the major-league roster. Even Rodriguez, one of the system’s success stories, signed back in 2019 and is only now knocking on the door of the majors after navigating multiple injuries.

That timeline explains the current roster imbalance. It's both understandable and (nonetheless) concerning. The Twins may very well be in the early stages of correcting their international approach, but the major-league roster is a snapshot of what came before. Right now, that snapshot reveals an organization that has not produced enough international talent internally to keep pace with the rest of the league.

The hope is that the next wave changes that narrative. Prospects like Bohorquez, Castellanos, and Jimenez offer reasons for optimism, while the revamped scouting infrastructure could yield stronger classes moving forward. But until those players develop into legitimate major-league contributors, the Twins will continue to feel the effects of a system that has lagged behind in one of baseball’s most important talent pipelines.

The current roster didn't blink into existence overnight. It reflects past strategy, past results, and a gap the organization is still working to close. The club's failures over the last two seasons can be partially traced to this shortcoming. Hopefully, this and future years will be defined by the way the team addresses it.

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Should fans be concerned with the lack of international players on the Twins’ roster? Leave a comment and start the discussion.

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[JADBP]

The greatest international player ever signed by the Twins (and also my favorite Twin ever!) was the immensely skilled, fabulously talented, and super great guy, MR. Tony Oliva.  I don't think we ever had a more gracious Gentleman on the team.  In 1964, he was ROY and lead ALL of MLB in hits, runs, AND batting AVG along with being a great fielder, leading all of MLB in putouts.  He came in 4th in MVP voting in 64 and runner up 3 times more.  17-time All Star.  Just sayin..,..

So, We can find remarkable talent in the international free agent pool.  I could never figure out why the Twins never played in the deep end of the pool, where the better talents are lingering...especially when we had such large international free agent  bonus pool ($7.3 million this year).  Maybe this is just another example of the Pohlads being cheap?  They are afraid of spending money--so much so that they traded int'l bonus pool $$$ for a player (Banda) earlier this year!  Whew!

[RpR]

A problem that exists only in the world of those looking for a problem.

That there are few, if any, American Indians, in the league would be a reason to raise an eye but beyond that it is at best a bar stool subject.

[HerbieFan]

I read the headline and thought we were going to read about the complete lack of ability under Falvey to develop players that are a) fast and b) can play defense.

[Fire Dan Gladden]

Calling the Twins out for something then not providing any data to support your supposition doesn't make a lot of sense. Comparing them to other teams would be helpful. I also think a moment-in-time snapshot doesn't provide an accurate picture. You need to included year-by-year numbers both internally and in comparison to others.  For all we-as-fans know, half the teams in MLB might have a similar ethnic breakdown.

I am not saying the article is right or wrong. I am saying the article doesn't really tell me if it is a problem.

[nicksaviking]

1 hour ago, RpR said:

A problem that exists only in the world of those looking for a problem.

That there are few, if any, American Indians, in the league would be a reason to raise an eye but beyond that it is at best a bar stool subject.

If the University of Alabama only recruited players from Alabama, they'd never win a champoinship.

If you're not using all avenues to find talent, in college football, professional baseball or hiring at H&R Block, then all you're doing is letting the competition have first dibs on huge swaths of potential. Diversity is good. This is fact, not opinion.

[nicksaviking]

38 minutes ago, Fire Dan Gladden said:

Calling the Twins out for something then not providing any data to support your supposition doesn't make a lot of sense. Comparing them to other teams would be helpful. I also think a moment-in-time snapshot doesn't provide an accurate picture. You need to included year-by-year numbers both internally and in comparison to others.  For all we-as-fans know, half the teams in MLB might have a similar ethnic breakdown.

I am not saying the article is right or wrong. I am saying the article doesn't really tell me if it is a problem.

I think team-to-team is the wrong comparisons. The Twins only have 16 players on their 40-man roster that they themselves drafted and developed. Striking through developed because that's an arbitrary term considering the situation. Ober, Jeffers and Buxton probably only count by most definitions of the word; maybe throw in Larnach.

Bottom line, yeah, the Twins are terrible at developing international players. But they're also terrible at developing non-international players. 

[DJL44]

1 hour ago, JADBP said:

The greatest international player ever signed by the Twins (and also my favorite Twin ever!) was the immensely skilled, fabulously talented, and super great guy, MR. Tony Oliva.  I don't think we ever had a more gracious Gentleman on the team.  In 1964, he was ROY and lead ALL of MLB in hits, runs, AND batting AVG along with being a great fielder, leading all of MLB in putouts.  He came in 4th in MVP voting in 64 and runner up 3 times more.  17-time All Star.  Just sayin..,..

So, We can find remarkable talent in the international free agent pool.  I could never figure out why the Twins never played in the deep end of the pool, where the better talents are lingering...especially when we had such large international free agent  bonus pool ($7.3 million this year).  Maybe this is just another example of the Pohlads being cheap?  They are afraid of spending money--so much so that they traded int'l bonus pool $$$ for a player (Banda) earlier this year!  Whew!

The greatest international player the Twins have had is Rod Carew. Polanco, Sano and Kepler signed in 2009. It would be nice to find another good player in this century.

[Richie the Rally Goat]

1 hour ago, Fire Dan Gladden said:

Calling the Twins out for something then not providing any data to support your supposition doesn't make a lot of sense. Comparing them to other teams would be helpful. I also think a moment-in-time snapshot doesn't provide an accurate picture. You need to included year-by-year numbers both internally and in comparison to others.  For all we-as-fans know, half the teams in MLB might have a similar ethnic breakdown.

I am not saying the article is right or wrong. I am saying the article doesn't really tell me if it is a problem.

I could not agree more.

what percentage of MLB players are born outside of the US by year would have been a good start.

[DJL44]

1 hour ago, Richie the Rally Goat said:

I could not agree more.

what percentage of MLB players are born outside of the US by year would have been a good start.

About a third.

[Richie the Rally Goat]

53 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

About a third.

Did I miss that from the OP?

[bean5302]

As of 2025, players on the active rosters (26 man) born outside the United States. United States excludes territories. The percentage of non-US states born players dropped to the lowest since 2014 this year down to 26%.

https://www.mlb.com/press-release/press-release-opening-day-rosters-feature-265-internationally-born-players

[rv78]

I think the "long-building problem" with the Twins isn't due to the lack of international talent but more likely due to the lack of ANY talent. When was the last time they brought up a prospect that they drafted that was a .300 hitter on a consistant basis out side of Luis Arraez? Larnach, Wallner, Lee, Lewis, are just the most recent examples of players they drafted with all the hype of significant difference making status and they can barely hit .200 consistantly. I could care less WHERE the player comes from. Just give me a few that can hit like a Carew or Oliva for a change.

[DJL44]

9 minutes ago, rv78 said:

drafted that was a .300 hitter on a consistant basis out side of Luis Arraez?

Those don’t exist anymore. The league hits .240 now.

[Russ]

The brain trust's player development and evaluation has been lacking for a long time.  The players need talent as well and it seems that  players move up the system only to make room for younger talent.  They still lack range defensively, poor baserunning, timely hitting and poor pitching 

[TopGunn#22]

I will agree the op could have had more "depth" to it, and bean5302's chart says more than the op itself did.  But there was a time that the Twins were one of the top teams in MLB with Latin players in the 1960's.  I was a Tony Oliva guy.  He was my favorite player on the Twins, but when Rod Carew came along Tony-O got some serious competition. 

Both were Rookies of the Year.  Tony-O EXPLODED onto the scene with back-to-back A.L. Batting Titles.  Rod was a little more quiet, but once he won his first A.L. Batting Title in 1969 he made his case for "Greatest Twin Ever." 

I would like to see the Twins do better in Latin America.  We don't seem to want to compete for Japanese stars.  But as someone else put it, you just can't take a snapshot and call it a major failure.  In the near future the Twins could have E-Rod, Gabe Gonzalez, Noah Cardenas, Eduardo Tait, Mendez, Jimenez, Olivar and any number of others already listed as well, up with the team.  

[Riverbrian]

According to the CBA.

If a baseball player is younger than age 18 when signed. A baseball team has 5 years before they must be placed on the 40 man roster or they are exposed to rule 5. 

Once added to the 40 man roster. The team has 3 option years before the 26 man becomes the requirement. 

It's hard to project 18 years and I'd imagine 16 years old is harder still.

This makes 40 man decision time age 21.  

This makes 26 man decision time age 24. 

I don't know the answer to this but my question would be.

How many players under the age of 24 have actually made the Twins roster.

If the answer is a low number... that's going to play a role in our IFA survival numbers. 

Luke Keaschall is one for sure.  

[Fire Dan Gladden]

10 hours ago, bean5302 said:

As of 2025, players on the active rosters (26 man) born outside the United States. United States excludes territories. The percentage of non-US states born players dropped to the lowest since 2014 this year down to 26%.

https://www.mlb.com/press-release/press-release-opening-day-rosters-feature-265-internationally-born-players

One quick Google search destroys most of the thunder off the article.

Could the Twins do better with the international portion of their recruiting? Yes. I would bet all teams would tell you that.

Are they abysmally bad? No. They are literally one player away from being middle of the pack.

[Trov]

International signed players are always a lottery ticket.  Outside of Asia, the players are 16 or 17 generally, assuming that they are not lying.  Some pan out, some do not. Even the ones that are ranked super high never make it, and ones that are ranked much lower do.  They are open to the highest bidder, now with cap on spending kind of, but still you never know how they will grow and develop.  

I could point out many international classes and point out many flops by many teams.  I could point to even one of Twins biggest years was the Sano, Kepler, Polanco year.  Sano was the prize of the signing, but provided the least value overall of the three.  Polanco and Kepler each have career 20 war, Sano capped out at 8. 

[Doctor Gast]

 I wrote a blog a few months ago, I think it is related to your article  https://twinsdaily.com/blogs/entry/24088-an-observation/

I've been very concerned about how the Twins have approached the International draft. They have gone away from scouting to relying on their kind of analytics. They haven't had much luck with it, so instead of aiming at quality, they go with quantity & hope that with some luck, a prospect falls through the crack & makes it to the MLB & much less miraculously does well. I won't go into depth; you can check out my blog.

How many in-house international pitchers make it to the Twins? I have some hope that Emma makes it & runs with it. But he's the only one, even those position prospects we obtain, I'm not very hopeful. We need to make a transition away from this faulty philosophy & go with better scouting & development focused on this rich field of these young International prospects. 

[Eris]

18 hours ago, DJL44 said:

The greatest international player the Twins have had is Rod Carew.

I am not sure Rod Carew qualifies as an international signee. Although born in Panama, he was attending high school in New York City when identified by a Twins scout. 

[DJL44]

30 minutes ago, Eris said:

I am not sure Rod Carew qualifies as an international signee. Although born in Panama, he was attending high school in New York City when identified by a Twins scout. 

Technically Tony Oliva doesn’t count either because he was signed before the MLB draft began.